


fe^^ 




ii? 7 . »5 



REMINISCENCES OF Tl CIVIL WAR 



By JOHN HALLUM. 



AUTHOR OF 



History of Arkansas, The Diary of an Oi.d Lawyer, 

The Higher Types of Indian Character (M. S.)» 

and L<ife on the Frontier (M. S.). 



VOIyUME I. 









LITTLE rock: 

TUNNAH & PiTTARD, PRINTERS. 

1903. 



U ^ 3 1 



e^ 



0^ 



:^^^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1902, by John Hallum, in 
the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



DEDICATION. 



This volume is respectfully dedicated to "The 
Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy/' who 
are so nobly inspired with patriotic pride and 
devotion to the memories of their heroic sires, 
whose martial renown, sacrifices and endurance 
stands unsurpassed in the history of the world. 



PREFACE. 



Like Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz, this 
book of war literature contains selections of ex- 
traordinary and thrilling incidents, many of 
great historic value, which have escaped the 
notice of all the numerous historians who have 
devoted much time and cumbrous space in writ- 
ing histories of the great civil war. 

The facts upon which this volume is based 
have in every instance been obtained directly 
from private soldiers and subordinate officers 
who served in the various armies of the Confed- 
eracy; and in every instance the author has 
studiously avoided the inclination to romance, 
which has been the infirmity of many writers, to 
the great injury of history. Especially has this 
been the case with military officers in high com- 
mand in their reports, the great majority of 
whom magnify their own achievements and 
minimize those of the enemy. 

To some extent, this volume occupies a new 
field by filling an interesting hiatus, overlooked 
and left open by writers who have occupied the 



6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

upper spaces in the martial Pantheon without 
honoring the foundations upon which it rests. 

The private and subordinate officer is the 
basis of all military achievement, the foundation 
upon which all military renown has been built 
in all ages. There is an interdependence be- 
tween the commander and the forces under him, 
but the glory of great performance has ever been 
ascribed to the former, whilst the latter have 
only attracted notice in general terms, which 
consigns individual heroism to oblivion. 



REMINISCENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



THE HEROINE OF TENNESSEE. 



James H. Graham was a youth of seventeen 
years, residing in Memphis, Tenn., when the war 
between the states commenced in 1861. There 
was a company of one hundred and twenty-five 
young men of Memphis, of the best families, 
recruited for the Confederate army. Their aver- 
age ages was less than twenty years. Their cap- 
tain, James H. Edmondson, was but twenty- 
three years of age. The celebrated Preston 
Smith was their colonel until after the battle of 
Shiloh, after which he was promoted for con- 
spicuous gallantry on that field to a brigadier's 
commission. His old regiment remained in his 
brigade until after the battles around Mur- 
phreysboro, December 31, 1862, and January 1 
and 2, 1863, when the company was transferred 
to (leneral Forrest's command, and the regiment 
was ever afterwards known as the One Hundred 
and Fifty-fourth Tennessee cavalry. General 
Forrest was from the same city and knew them 
all personally, but was influenced more to seek 
the command of this company, or rather its in- 
corporation into his command, because of the 
many severe battles through which they had 
passed with unwavering courage. General Smith 
was from the same city also, and felt the strong- 
est attachment for "The Bluff City Grays," be- 



8 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

cause no braver men shed luster on Confederate 
arms. 

The writer was from the same city, and was 
personally acquainted with most of these boy 
heroes, as well as with their noble commanders. 

This company, that Memphis feels proud of 
and delights to honor, was the heroic partici- 
pants in forty pitched battles, and every engage- 
ment added new laurels to their achievements. 

But it is with Private Graham alone that we 
now deal, after his company was attached to 
General Forrest's command. 

During Forrest's twenty days campaign in 
west Tennessee, in December, 1863, and Jan- 
uary, 1864, Graham was overcome with the 
fatigue, exposure and physical exhaustion of 
that winter campaign. He was naturally frail 
and delicate — tall, spare in frame, and at best 
only weighed one hundred and fourteen pounds — 
yet he had the iron nerve of a Roman. He was 
fortunate in being sent to Jackson, Tennessee, 
the Athens of the western division of the state, 
where he was received in one of the best families 
of that city, long celebrated for its hospitality 
and culture. 

The family who cared for him was blessed with 
two or three charming daughters, who, through 
long weeks of care, and nursing, brought the 
dying young soldier back to life after hope 
ceased to encourage expectation of recovery. 
The city was often thronged with Federal sol- 
diers whilst he lay secreted in a room of 
that hospitable mansion. He tells the writer 
that after he recovered suflSciently to turn over 
on his bed and look through the lattice shutters 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 9 

to the window, over on the adjacent streets, he 
frequently saw Federal soldiers take jewelry 
from the persons of ladies passing on the streets, 
which made his almost bloodless frame boil with 
indignation and desire to avenge the vandalism. 

During that period of anarchy and social 
chaos, when the tramp of armies and clash of 
arms shook the earth, and effected in its baneful 
coil over commercial relations extending around 
the globe, society at the clashing centers of revo- 
lution was left without the protection of law. 

The higher classes of citizenship volunteered 
their services and were honorably enrolled in the 
Confederate armies, another element of inferior 
degree was conscripted into the service, and an- 
other element of still lower degree skulked both 
elements of the service, and when the Federal 
armies occupied the departments where they 
resided they became frenzied partisans against 
their country; not because of any patriotic feel- 
ing for either side of the contest, but solely be- 
cause of the opportunities the existence of war 
afforded them to pillage and plunder helpless 
non-combatants who were powerless in the ab- 
sence of their protectors, who were absent in the 
field of legitimate war. The protection of Fed- 
eral arms within the compass of those districts 
they occupied was extended to these organized 
bands of freebooters. But few of them ever 
had a conflict with armed soldiers. 

Whenever these bands were seen on forced 
marches, it was an unerring indication in west 
Tennessee that Forrest was at their heels, and 
that they were running away under the inspira- 
tion of fear, that they might resume the practice 



lo Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

of their crimes when organized force was with- 
drawn from the district. 

Fielding Hurst, of McNairy county, west Ten- 
nessee, organized a regiment of these predatory 
thieves, robbers, murderers and rapists, which 
was designated the Sixth Tennessee union cav- 
alry. 

General William Sooy Smith, when he was 
chief of Federal cavalry in that department, 
wrote to General Grant : ''We have given Col- 
onel Hurst a roving commission with his cav- 
alry, and directed him to grub up west Ten- 
nessee/''' See official records, Vol. 32, Part 2, 
page 124. He did not, and was not expected to 
war against organized bodies of Confederate 
soldiers. His command was never incorporated 
into the regular service. His commission to dig 
up was construed to embrace the catalogue of 
every horrible crime without Federal restraint. 

It was called an independent command, and 
was never intended to battle with organized 
armies; that was too hazardous, and they were 
too cowardly to assume any such risks. They 
caught and executed many of Forrest's soldiers 
when separated from their command on furlough 
to their homes in west Tennessee, from which 
Forrest drew a large number of his bravest sol- 
diers. 

But more of this in the next chapter when we 
come to treat of the execution of sixty of these 
Diggers at one time by General Forrest, in De- 
cember, 1863. 

This horrid work of the Diggers was in full 
blast in west Tennessee whilst Graham lay sick 

* Italics mine. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. ii 

in Jackson, and of which he was fully advised 
by a few trusted friends who were admitted to 
his presence. In justification of their crimes 
they vociferously proclaimed that they showed 
no quarter to Forrest's men and fought under 
the black flag. 

In the absence of Confederate troops these 
Diggers with a roving commission would sepa- 
rate into squads and appropriate whatever they 
found and wanted^ and often committed rape on 
helpless, innocent girls; and it was to the perpe- A''^, ^" 
trators of these most horrid of all crimes that -/^'' 
Graham's attention was called as soon as he was ''^ r*^ 
able to mount the saddle, and he also knew of- - P^ 
the proscription and murder of his comrades in ;;' i ^ 
arms. ] f I ¥ 

By way of preface and absolute justification - 
of Graham's dealings with these rapists, we con-, . 
tent ourselves with relating only two of the 
horrid crimes in which Graham, like his chief, 
applied the law of lea) talionis. 

Seven of these roving Diggers went to the resi- 
dence of one of the most respectable families in 
west Tennessee, living near Paris, the county 
seat of Henry county, where a mother and her 
beautiful eighteen year old daughter resided 
without protection. They seized the young lady 
and made great effort to appropriate her chas- 
tity, but did not succeed because she resisted 
with all the energy of a heroine. One of the men, 
with a long, sharp knife, whilst the others seized 
and held her, cut off her breast, cursed and vili- 
fied her, and then left her in the arms of her dis- 
tracted mother to bleed to death. But after long 
and painful lingering she recovered, maimed for 






12 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

life. This and the following crime occurred 
about the time Graham was able to take the sad- 
dle. Another one of these enemies to the human 
race went alone to the house where another 
mother with a fourteen year old daughter re- 
sided, and horribly mutilated the daughter in 
satisfaction of his lust. Graham gathered seven 
of his comrades, who made it their business to 
hunt up these demons in human flesh, and they 
caught them all and executed them. 

I will not horrify the reader by relating other 
crimes of the same nature, committed by these 
Diggers with a roving commission from Federal 
generals. Native regiments of Federal soldiers 
were regarded with loathing by the loyal popu- 
lation. 

Graham returned to Jackson to further re- 
cuperate his health, preparatory to rejoining his 
command. His place of concealment was dis- 
covered, through what instrumentality will 
never be known. The partisans of the eight men 
executed by Graham and his seven comrades 
swore that their lives should pay the forfeit if 
ever captured. This was but a repetition of 
their oft repeated black flag proclamation. But 
after the discovery of Graham's hiding place, 
they were too economizing of their own lives to 
enter the city of Jackson to capture him, but 
sent a courier to Paducah for braver men to 
incur the risk. When danger was in the air they 
smelt it afar off and fled from its approach. The 
commander of the post at Paducah dispatched 
a lieutenant with one hundred and twenty-five 
men to capture the one solitary soldier. In the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 13 

lapse of years Graham has forgotten the name 
of this lieutenant. 

Graham was nursed to health, at the residence 
of Judge McCorry, in Jackson, but after the ex- 
ecution of the rapists he returned to Jackson 
and stopped at the residence of another citizen, 
where he was saved by the heroine. 

Graham indulged a feeling of perfect security 
and had rapidly recovered his strength, and was 
prepared to leave for his command, in utter in- 
nocence of the plans laid to capture and execute 
him. The night preceding his intended depart- 
ure, the soldiers from Paducah surrounded the 
house where he last stopped, as hereinafter de- 
tailed. Prom his standpoint there was no possible 
avenue of escape, and no alternative left but to 
surrender and be executed, or to fight to the 
death and sell his life as dearly as possible. He 
was in the upper story of the house, which as yet 
had not been invaded. The one hundred and 
twenty-five soldiers in blue, and thirsting for 
his blood, were in the lower department of the 
house and all the outbuildings searching for 
him. He had two army pistols and resolved to 
make that house another Alamo. With that 
resolution, he took his stand at the head of the 
stairway leading to the upper story, and stood 
at the left hand of the balustrade, which pro- 
tected his body and only left his head and right 
arm exposed to those who mounted the stairway 
to capture him. Thus advantageously protected 
against enemies ascending the ctairs, he could 
have made every one of his twelve shots count. 

At this opportune moment another great sur- 
prise — the greatest of all surprises — in the per- 



14 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

son of one of the young ladies, who came rushing 
up stairs, unobserved by the soldiers, and before 
she could speak Graham said to her : 

"Go down instantly, and get out of the w^ay 
before your exit is blockaded with dead soldiers. 
They will crowd the stairway in a minute more, 
and I am going to shoot them down as fast as 
they approach." 

"No, no," she said, "I can save you; they can- 
not find you." 

And without waiting for his answer or decis- 
ion, she pushed him back into his room, sat down 
in a large rocking chair, spread out her ample 
crinoline skirt, and said: 

"Get under this ; you are small and I can hide 
you. They will not think of searching my cloth- 
ing for you." 

Her sagacity, ingenuity, intuition, or by what- 
ever name the heroine may be designated, for a 
moment appalled him more than the blood- 
thirsty soldiers below, and he hesitated until 
footsteps were heard on the stariw^ay. She w^aited 
no longer, but took hold of him, and just as the 
officer in charge of the soldiers planted his foot 
in the hallway, she had him perfectly hidden 
under her crinoline skirt. 

She sat facing the open door through which 
the officer advanced, and in authoritative em- 
phasis asked : 

"Where is Graham, that bandit and outlaw, I 
have come for? You have been harboring him 
in this house for months. He is here and must 
be given up. Your refusal will be perilous in the 
extreme. He has murdered many of our soldiers 
and must pay the penalty." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 15 

The girl replied in that dignified hauteur char- 
acteristic of high born southern ladies, who had 
never been accustomed to less than that graceful 
chivalry which has alw^ays distinguished cultured 
gentlemen of the south. With the queenly dig- 
nity of a sovereign on the throne, sitting in judg- 
ment, she said: 

'^Sir, you have it in your power, in the ab- 
sence of southern soldiers, to distress helpless 
women by emphasizing your threats born of the 
vandalism attested by our ruined homes. Chiv- 
alrous men, worthy to bear arms and to honor 
the calling of soldiers, are always courteous in 
the presence of ladies. They never soil their 
manhood with rude tongue or ungentlemanly 
bearing.'' 

He said: 

"Miss, or madame, as it may be with you, I 
did not come here for a curtain lecture. Tell 
me — and be quick about it — where is Graham?'' 

To which she replied: 

"Sir, I say to you that Mr. Graham has re- 
cently occupied this room, but the only rem- 
nant of him left is that pair of worn pants, 
old hat and under garment there in the ward- 
robe. They are the only trophies you will find 
here. He left here a few days ago, well armed 
and mounted, and I think is now on your trail. 
He was informed of your coming in ample time 
to avoid your contact. Do you think for a mo- 
ment that your pathway here was secret and un- 
observed by his friends to give him warning? If 
you do, your thoughts deceive you. He has been 
instrumental in avenging nameless crimes and 
is now on your track, and I predict that you will 



1 6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

be overtaken and in his power in less than three 
days. As little heed as you pay to the warning, 
you may reckon when it is too late. Some of his 
enemies fight under the black flag. He may re- 
ciprocate the courtesy if you fall into his hands. 
Beware !" 

The outgeneraled officer tore off the bed cloth- 
ing, looked between bed and mattress, and fum- 
bled through the wardrobe, and went through 
every upper room. His face flushed with the 
anger of disappointment. He said : 

"Your association with the outlaw seems to 
have been pleasant and agreeable. No doubt you 
are familiar with all of his movements. I 
demand that you tell me when he left, where he 
went, and where he is to be found." 

"Sir," she said, with indignant emphasis, "if 
I had it in my power to gratify your demands by 
becoming a traitoress to the noblest of soldiers 
and the cause to which he has consecrated his 
life, I would perish before I would gratify the 
demands which stamp you as unworthy the chiv- 
alry of arms." 

Just as he returned to the room the sergeant 
came and informed him that every nook and 
corner about the place had been thoroughly 
searched without success in finding Graham. 
The sergeant then asked, "Where are we to camp 
tonight?" and was answered, "In the court- 
house and yard." 

This information as to their camping ground 
proved to be of inestimable service to Graham, 
who listened with intense anxiety to every word. 

The noble girl thus saved Graham's life. A 
heroine of the highest type. 



Eeminiscences of the Civil War. 17 

The noble Roman mother of the Gracchi broth- 
ers never indulged loftier inspiration. Miss 
Emma Sanson, the heroine who mounted behind 
General Forrest and piloted him to the lost ford, 
when the great general was in deathly pursuit 
of an invading army, by that one act of girlish 
daring and patriotism wrote her noble name in 
the Pantheon of the immortals, and the loving 
story of that one act will live in history as long 
as man cherishes noble woman. When her name 
is forgotten letters and civilization will have 
perished. Yet her name will never appear in a 
brighter halo than that of the heroine who saved 
Graham's life. But the public has never yet 
known her name. Reared in the lap of culture 
and elegance, inspired with polished feelings of 
shrinking modesty and delicacy, she exacted 
from Graham a solemn pledge that he would not 
give her name to the public in connection with 
his miraculous escape, and he has kept the 
pledge sacred. 

She lived to become the noble wife of a pro- 
fessional gentleman of high standing. It is de- 
voutly hoped that the relatives and friends sur- 
viving this noble lady, who are familiar with the 
facts, will yet withdraw the veil of secrecy, that 
her name may shine as a jewel in the crown of 
immortality. History and mankind will mourn 
at the loss of such a diadem. Coming ages, and 
all the coming generations of men, would unite 
in honoring that name. Will some patriotic 
citizen of Jackson, Tennessee, overcome and 
cause to be withdrawn the pledge of secrecy, and 
bequeath to history the opportunity to crown 
that name in fadeless beauty? No brighter jewel 



1 8 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

would shine in the heraldry of southern renown. 
The citizens of Jackson owe it to themselves, to 
histor^^ and to posterity, to give that name if 
they can discover it, and influence the with- 
drawal of the veil of secrecy. That accomplished, 
a monument would grace their city, more durable 
than the Pyramids, Gothic or Ionic columns; 
and Tennessee, like Alabama, would glorify the 
renown which sheds luster on her history. 

After the shades of night spread their protect- 
ing veil over the earth, Graham emerged from 
the mansion where death had knocked at his 
door twice without admittance. He was soon in 
the saddle, as gallant as the Knight of Ivanhoe, 
on chivalry bent. Trained in arms and forced 
marches under the stars by that great "Wizard 
of the Saddle," General Forrest, he knew where 
to go and what to do when he got there. 

All west Tennessee was then in the Federal 
lines, and the few sterling patriots who remained 
in arms within these lines were compelled, like 
the great Marion of the revolution, to watch 
with an eagle eye for opportunities to strike, and 
when outnumbered and overpowered to retire to 
dense forests, swamps and morasses. 

Jackson had her Marion, as brave and boli 
and wary as the great Marion of the revolution, 
and to find the camp of that warrior bold before 
the sun descended the horizon was the task 
Graham imposed on himself. Captain Benjamin 
Newsom was somewhere with fifty or sixty reso- 
lute followers in his lair in the jungles fringing 
Obian river. If he could find this "swamp fox" 
by night he could reward the heroine who saved 
him, and confirm her confidence in his prowess 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 19 

as a soldier worthy of her protection. That idea 
possessed his soul and nerved his weak frame 
with sinews of iron — that thought was upper- 
most and stronger than all others. If he could 
confirm her prediction, his head and heart would 
revel in the glories of a delirious hour which she 
would share with him. He oft repeated to him- 
self, "I must find Old Ben." But first he must 
find some trusted patriot to give him directions, 
and that required judgment and finesse in a 
country swarming with tories on the scout to 
capture and execute him. These adherents to 
the Federal cause had written their history in 
the blood of his comrades. 

In February and March, 1864, these fiends 
captured and executed seven of Forrest's men at 
one time. They cut off the tongue, punched out 
the eyes, and slit the mouth of one and left him 
to die. They also, at different times, captured 
seven more men of Newsom's cavalry, Forrest's 
command, in February and March, 1864, and 
executed them. This occurred before Graham 
with his seven comrades captured and executed 
eight of Hurst's men, as hereinbefore stated. 
See Wyeth's admirable ^^Life of Forrest," page 
369. 

He must be Federal or Confederate as occa- 
sion required. He wore no uniform to designate 
him as either, and was as diplomatic as an em- 
bassador when he met a stranger in the road or 
hailed at a house for information. Finally he 
got on the right trail to Old Ben's camp in the 
obscure wilderness. His heart swelled with the 
joy of anticipation, and he became active with 
his spurs. It was the first week in May, 1864 ; 



20 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the sun was brilliant, the foliage was gorgeous. 
At sunset he reached the camp and set in motion 
the patriotic tide that poured through Old Ben's 
dauntless heart as well as that of his men. Bona- 
parte, after his achievements at Austerlitz and 
Merengo, could not have felt prouder of the 
lofty perch he had given to the eagles of France, 
and Old Ben, too, felt like the falcon springing 
from its erye to cleave the clouds. 

Fifty men marched for Jackson that night, 
and in the wee hours of the morning, before the 
cock announced the coming day, they captured 
all of the hundred and twenty-five gentlemen in 
blue from Paducah without firing a gun. Gra- 
ham's elation can better be imagined than de- 
scribed, and language fails in the power of ex- 
pression to paint the dejection and fear of the 
officer who had a few hours before declared his 
intention to capture and execute him. His coun- 
tenance betrayed a depth of fear that the brave 
never feel. Forrest's men had been described to 
him as fearless demons, who extended no mercy 
to their captives. His impressions were derived 
from northern denunciations of Forrest as the 
Fort Pillow assassin, and he thought that his 
own actions in the estimation of Forrest's men 
would call down the death penalty on his own 
head. 

Seeing the horrible state of mind he was in, 
Graham approached him with that affable smile 
so characteristic of the man, and said : 

"My name is Graham. I am the man you 
tried to capture and execute. I was in a few feet 
of you, and heard every word you said when you 
came to the room I occupied. Perhaps you have 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 21 

not yet forgotten the prediction of the young 
lady that you would soon fall into my hands. 
But let me assure you that I have no idea of 
retaliating by treating you as you declared you 
would treat me if I should fall in your hands. 
We will have the pleasure of taking our morning 
meal together in the hospitable mansion you 
surrounded, and the noble girl you talked to in 
my hearing will dispense the hospitalities of the 
occasion." 

He felt relieved, for he at once recognized the 
fact that he was addressed by a courteous gen- 
tleman as well as one of Forrest's soldiers. But 
the prisoner said: 

"I would much rather enjoy your morning 
hospitality at some other place. My presence at 
that home will not be pleasant either to the 
ladies or myself. Circumstances certainly for- 
bid the indulgence of social amenities on an oc- 
casion like this." 

"In that estimate you are much mistaken," 
said Graham. "Those ladies are overjoyed at 
my escape from the doom you pronounced 
against the soldier they saved." 

At early dawn Graham hastened to the man- 
sion from which he escaped, and told a servant 
to inform the ladies of the capture, and that he 
would bring the lieutenant who had surrounded 
the house to breakfast with him. A surprise was 
never more joyfully received. 

The lieutenant in his table talk manifested 
much curiosity and desire to know how and 
where Graham was concealed when he was so 
near to him, and said : 



22 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"I will give five hundred dollars in gold for 
the secret." 

"No, no," said the heroine, "keep your gold. 
Have you never read the romances of the mid- 
dle ages, when every lord was king of his castle, 
and every castle was a fortress containing secret 
chambers which afforded protection against its 
captors; where love and war mingled their come- 
dies and tragedies with garlands for one and 
laurels for the other, and sometimes death for 
one and life for the other?" 

Thus ended the extraordinary display of cour- 
age and genius in this delicate flower which will 
shed its fragrance and inspire the admiration of 
mankind long after marble shafts and princely 
mausoleums have passed into the dust of ob- 
livion. 

But the fortunes of war in the dispensation of 
victories and defeats are as uncertain as the 
shifting of the wind and the change of clouds. 

On the 15th day of May, 1864, a few days after 
the serio-comic freaks of fate which linked Gra- 
ham's name with acts of immortality, he mounted 
his war horse and set out in company with Rob- 
ert Hays to hunt up and rejoin their command 
under General Forrest. Their march was difficult 
and dangerous. But danger was a factor little 
feared by the boys of the Bluff City Grays, who 
had charged under their intrepid leader over 
and through fields of grape, canister and mus- 
ketry, where death reigned in a carnival of 
slaughter. Their route was beset with Federal 
soldiers and the traitorous criminals of Hurst's 
Diggers. It led through a country interspersed 
with swamps, chapperel, woodland and open 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 23 

fields, and a price had been set on their head^ 
because of their active participation in the cap- 
ture and execution of eight rapists belonging to 
Fielding Hurst's command of tories and traitors 
to their native land. 

Their zeal and eagerness to rejoin their com- 
mand, from which they had been so long sepa- 
rated, led them to brave every danger. The 
patriotic tide that swelled their youthful hearts 
stimulated their heroic patriotism in excess of 
that caution their situation imperatively re- 
quired, and they were captured between Meden 
and Boliver by Colonel Thalberg'S command of 
regulars, and sent to Nashville with charges 
against them for capturing and murdering Fed- 
eral soldiers — without mention of the justifiable 
circumstances which was the basis of the execu- 
tions. They were confined in the penitentiary, 
where they found twelve more of Forrest's com- 
mand laboring under the same charges, of which 
they were not guilty. 

Perhaps no other command in the Confederate 
army incurred so much hatred and animosity 
as that of General Forrest, on whose death or 
capture General Sherman had set a great price, 
regardless of the means employed to compass the 
end. As palliation for the war on Forest, the 
northern press saturated the people with the con- 
viction that General Forrest in cold blood assas- 
sinated the garrison he captured at Fort Pillow, 
and the congress of the United States added fuel 
to the frenzy of the people and the Federal army. 
There was no justification, no truth, no violation 
of the rules of war on which these slanders were 
founded. See Dr. John Allen Wveth's "Life of 



24 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

General Forrest/' pages 335 to 390, wherein the 
great and impartial author presents a lucid, 
masterly and unanswerable defense of General 
Forrest's conduct in the capture of Fort Pillow. 
Perhaps a more unjustifiable reward was never 
offered by a man high in authority, within the 
pale of civilization. The desire to glut their 
vengeance against consummate generalship and 
heroic deeds pervaded every ramification of the 
Federal army, and threw a shameful cloud over 
the Federal congress in the shape of partisan 
reports of its committees, based on eco parte evi- 
dence, at war with truth and in violation and 
utter disregard of the rules of law. They dis- 
honored the army and people they represented 
in vain effort to convert falsehood into facts 
upon which to base the law of le(v talionis. 

These fourteen prisoners, under such circum- 
stances, did not stand the ghost of a chance be- 
fore a court martial organized for conviction, 
and by that tribunal they were railroaded 
through and sentenced to be hanged. 

But the soldiers of Forrest were dauntless in 
sublime faith in their general to prevent their 
execution. A gallows was erected in front of 
the door to their prison, where they could look 
and witness the progress of the workmen engaged 
in erecting the death machine. Their cell doors 
were thrown open and they were permitted to 
walk over the structure which in a few brief 
hours was to bridge the short interval between 
them and eternity. 

But the watchful and ever vigilant Forrest, 
whose eagle eye seemed to watch and take in 
every situation, was soon onto the desperate 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 35 

situation of his condemned soldiers. A flag of 
truce from his command soon approached the 
Federal lines around Nashville, with a com- 
munication from him to the Federal commander, 
in which he informed that functionary that if he 
proceeded to execute the sentence of the court 
martial that he would execute ten Federal sol- 
diers for every one of his men executed. 

One of those noble southern ladies of Nash- 
ville, who felt all the enthusiasm for the south 
that could animate exalted patriotism, saw the 
flag of truce when it came to the Federal lines, 
and never rested until by artful ingenuity she 
ascertained its purport, and as ingeniously con- 
trived to get a letter to the condemned soldiers, 
in which she informed them of what had trans- 
pired, and in the exuberant enthusiasm which 
she felt, lauded their great commander and as- 
sured them that they need not feel the least ap- 
prehension of the sentence being carried into 
execution. 

"A Koland for an Oliver." No one better 
knew than the Federals that General Forrest 
meant precisely what he said, and the death sen- 
tence was rescinded, they were sent to Camp 
Chase near Columbus, Ohio, and treated as pris- 
oners of war. 

The appearance of General Forrest's soldiers 
in that prison camp was a drawing card, and 
attracted more people than Barnum ever gath- 
ered under his tent. Good ladies, who had been 
saturated with the conviction that Forrest's men 
were human hyenas, flocked to Camp Chase by 
thousands. Their astonishment at finding su- 
perb looking young men, who displayed that 



26 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

polish of manner and speech which always 
adorns the person and presence of a gentleman 
in the presence of ladies, revolutionized their 
ideas, and their surprise was so great they did 
not refrain from giving it expression. A good 
and kind old lady, accompanied by her elegantly 
dressed daughter, invited Graham to a seat by 
them, opened a bon-bon box of delicacies and 
invited him to join them in its consumption. 
There is a nobility of manhood that the tattered 
garments of a soldier, scarcely sufficient to con- 
ceal his person, cannot destroy or efface, even 
in the presence of cultured woman. Such was 
the attitude in which Graham appeared in the 
presence of those refined ladies of Ohio. His 
high and broad forehead, flashing eye, and suav- 
ity of speech and address, commanded the re- 
spect and admiration of those daughters of the 
north, as well as their sympathy. 

With that delicacy of expression which ever 
lends a charm to true womanhood, these noble 
ladies unfolded to their guest for the time being 
their astonishment at the misrepresentations of 
the northern press as to all the types of the 
southern soldier, and after the pleasant meeting 
ended, cordially shook the hand of the young 
soldier in a pleasant farewell — an episode in the 
rude and cruel oasis of war, which left its im- 
pressions as enduring as life. 

In all there was at that time five hundred of 
Forrest's soldiers confined at Camp Chase. On 
the 1st of April, 1865, they were marched out for 
exchange — a few days before the final drama 
of the great revolution was forever closed at 
Appomattox. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 27 



EXECUTION OF SIXTY OUTLAWS 
AT ONE TIME. 



Civil war, where communities are divided in 
sentiment, always develops the basest passions 
of the lower strata of society. These infirmities 
lie dormant when the civil institutions of law 
and order obtain, but when the anarchy of civil 
war spreads its baleful wings over large territo- 
ries, the lowest strata prey like vultures on the 
defenseless higher classes. Perhaps no area of 
the southern states during the civil war was 
more afllicted with marauding freebooters, 
thieves and rapists than west Tennessee. 

Fielding Hurst, of McNairy county, was at 
the head of an organization calling themselves 
the Sixth Tennessee union cavalry, and Hurst 
their colonel. These renegade tories of south- 
ern blood preyed on the defenseless classes of 
west Tennessee, in the absence of nearly every 
able bodied patriot, most of whom were in the 
Confederate armies fighting under the peerless 
leadership of General Forrest. The families of 
these absent veterans were singled out as objects 
of spoliation and plunder, and made victims of 
every species of crime. These outlaws to every 
noble sentiment were base born cowards, from 
their colonel down to the lowest travesty on 
manhood in his command of six hundred. 

General Forrest repeatedly remonstrated with 
Federal commanders over that jurisdiction, but 
his appeals for the observance of that humanity 
which ought to obtain in civilized warfare were 



28 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

utterly disregarded. It was the boast of Hurst 
and his men that they would show no quarter 
to Confederate soldiers under General Forrest, 
and they put their threats in execution in many 
instances by murdering his men. 

In February, 1864, Hurst's men captured 
Lieutenant Joseph Stewart and privates John 
Wilson and Samuel Osborn, of Newsom's regi- 
ment of Forrest's cavalry, whilst they were on 
duty under orders, and three days after shot 
them to death. During the same month they also 
captured Private Martin of Forrest's command, 
and murdered him. In March of the same year, 
they captured Lieutenant Willis Dodd, whilst 
visiting at his father's house in Henderson 
county, and murdered him. Near the same 
time Hurst's men captured Alexander Vale, 
of Newsom's regiment of Forrest's cavalry, 
and shot him to death in Madison county whilst 
a prisoner. The catalogue of these horrid 
crimes is too long and appalling for relation 
here. The eight rapists executed by Graham, 
mentioned in the last chapter, were of Hurst's 
command. 

Federal commanders of that department paid 
no attention whatever to General Forrest's ap- 
peals to put a stop to these crimes. In fact, they 
seemed to encourage it, from their utter indif- 
ference to it. Major Generals C. C. Washburn 
and Hurlburt commanded the district when these 
outrages were committed. Hurlburt was a drun- 
ken sot. The author says this of his own knowl- 
edge. 

When General Forrest was assigned to the 
command of west Tennessee, to recruit and or- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 29 

ganize a cavalry force, these recruits were with- 
out arms and he was necessitated to depend upon 
capturing arms from the enemy. 

On December 26, 1863, Hurst was at Somer- 
ville, the county seat of Payette county, and a 
detachment of Forrest's, two-thirds of whom 
were without arms, called on the valiant gentle- 
man with a roving commissio7i very unexpect- 
edly, without any previous announcement of the 
intended call. The ever inventive genius of 
General Forrest caused sticks, the size and length 
of a gun, to be carried as guns by his unarmed 
men, which he well knew would frighten Hurst 
and his men as much as Colt repeating carbines. 
The pickets were driven in, and the stick squad- 
ron charged after them with the few who had 
guns. 

Hurst was near the public square when he 
heard and saw the hurricane of death coming, 
with wooden guns. He hallooed, " My God, 
boys! Yonder comes Forrest." He dug his 
spurs into his horse's sides in profound realiza- 
tion of that old trite aphorism, "distance lends 
enchantment to the view." His hat was donated 
to the wind ; his long disheveled hair made fran- 
tic efforts to fly away; his legs expanded at an 
angle of forty-five degrees in his heroic efforts 
to impart celerity to his distressed horse, whose 
sides were bleeding in sacrifice to glorious war. 
"My God, boys ! Forrest is coming." And "get 
you bet" was the motto he most honored. 

Sixty of Hurst's men were captured, but the 
official reports put it at thirty-five. The writer 
was long intimate with General Forrest, our ac- 
quaintance commencing in 1854. When he was 



3© Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

indicted in the Federal court, charged with trea- 
son to the government, Edwin M. Yerger and the 
writer were his legal counsel; but the case was 
finally dismissed without trial. I have the facts 
above stated from General Forrest himself, and I 
do not recall any incident of the war related 
by the general which caused him to overflow 
with so much laughter as Hurst^s flight when the 
stick brigade were charging on his command. 
He was usually very reticent, and spoke little, 
even to his intimate friends, about his glorious 
achievements in war. General James R. Chal- 
mers, one of the generaPs brave and trusted sub- 
ordinates, was at the time of which we speak 
the law partner of the writer, and General For- 
rest after the surrender often visited our offices 
in Memphis, and was more communicative to us 
than to many others. 

Those outlaws of Hurst's, captured at Somer- 
ville, died at the adjacent fair grounds that 
night. Leo) talionis had overtaken them be- 
cause those high in authority refused to heed 
the appeals of General Forrest to stop "digging 
up west Tennessee^' after the manner of outlaws. 

In the Augustin age of Rome, when she had 
reached the limit of her power and greatness, 
her laws denounced the libertine for more than 
six hundred years, and authorized husbands, 
brothers and kindred to slay the despoilers of 
woman's chastity without appeal to courts. 

A thousand years before the ascendency of 
this Roman age, Greece — in classic culture and 
refinement dominating the world, in heroic 
achievement, in the arts, sciences, poetry, philos- 
ophy and sculpture which has never been ex- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 31 

(^elled — wrote in her statute laws authorizing all 
the injured relatives of those whose chastity had 
been deflowered by the rake and libertine to kill 
and slay the demons. She erected a temple 
dedicated to virgin purity, where the Vestal Vir- 
gins kept the holy light of purity forever 
burning. 

Sappho and Homer tuned the immortal lyre, 
one in the strains of virtuous love, the other in 
epic song, which defies the decay of time. How 
near the Pagan Greek and his brother Roman 
approached the fiat of God in their devotion to 
pure domestic life long before the advent of 
Christianity. They knew that virtue is the sur- 
est foundation of the state, and that no people 
can ever attain the higher beneficence of civiliza- 
tion without an iron shield around its domestic 
altars. 

The forcible abduction of Helen, the beauti- 
ful wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, by Paris, 
son of Priam, king of Troy, brought on the con- 
federation of all the Grecian states against Pri- 
am, who refused to give up the beautiful Helen, 
resulted in the Trojan war of ten years, the 
expenditure of millions of treasure and the blood 
and life of one hundred thousand warriors. The 
heroic devotion of the Grecian states in the de- 
fense of virtue stands out as a luminous land- 
mark in the historic record of civilization, sweep- 
ing back to the dim vistas of the past and con- 
necting it to the present through the life of the 
finest epic poem the world has yet known. 

The Trojan war in defense of woman's virtue 
was the foundation of Homer's Iliad. That 
wandering minstrel of Chics Isle with his epic 



32 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

pen and sigthless eyes inspired the civilization 
which he glorified with profound love for virtue 
and the erection of temples dedicated to it, where 
the Vestal Virgins presided, which was copied by 
the Romans a thousand years afterwards, and 
the passage of laws by both peoples authorizing 
the injured relatives to slay without appeal to 
courts the seducer and rapist. Had General 
Forrest lived in either the blaze of Grecian or 
Roman greatness, pyramids of marble would 
have been erected to perpetuate his renown, and 
his name and deeds in executing those libertines 
would have adorned their classic pages as long 
as classic and heroic literature delights the cul- 
tured standard of mankind. 

The vapid criticisms of General Forrest, which 
swept down from the north in an arctic cyclone 
because he did what God authorized Abraham 
and his descendants to do with the despoilers of 
woman's virtue, recoils in tenfold force on the 
heads of all those superficial molders of public 
opinion. The blood of the libertine drips from 
the pages of his glorious history as it does from 
the genealogical tree of the Savior. 



TWO GREAT SURPRISES. 



Captain Pat H. Wheat, of Lonoke, Ark., 
commanded a cavalry company in the Trans- 
mississippi Department during the civil war. 
No braver soldier ever led men into battle, and 
perhaps no man ever enjoyed the ludicrous 
phases of life in greater degree, nor could tell 
them with more interest and effect. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 33 

In 1863 he was ordered to take his own and a 
Missouri company and pursue five hundred jay- 
hawkers on the upper waters of White river^ 
Arkansas, who were greatly distressing the in- 
habitants of that region. In command of this 
small battalion of one hundred and fifty men 
he pursued them night and day with relentless 
energy, without knowing that a superior force 
of Federal cavalry was closely following in his 
rear. 

After a forced march of forty-eight hours he 
arrived at two o'clock at night within less than 
two miles of the enemy, his men and horses ex- 
hausted with fatigue and hunger, and he halted 
to give the much needed rest preparatory to an 
attack on the enemy at daybreak next morning. 
He gave orders to his men to rest on their arms, 
in line of battle, holding their horses in hand to 
be ready to mount in a moment at the sound of 
the bugle. But the men from exhaustion fell 
asleep, and many of the jaded and hungry horses 
fell to browsing and walked off without awak- 
ening the soldiers. No pickets had been put out^ 
and perhaps they would have gone to sleep if 
they had been. 

When nearly every man was sound asleep they 
were fired on by the Federals following in the 
rear and taken by complete surprise. The great- 
est confusion resulted. Many scampered off to 
find their horses in the dark, but two-thirds of 
the men, whose horses had not strayed off, were 
in the saddle in a moment and fell into line at 
the command of Captain Wheat, and in a few 
minutes they charged and routed the enemy. 



34 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Ferdinand Gates, now a wealthy citizen of 
Memphis, was then a small young Dutchman, 
mounted on a large fine gray horse. The little 
Dutchman belonged to Wheat's company in the 
charge on the enemy. After the repulse of the 
enemy the command halted for the absentees to 
come up. In the darkness the white horse was a 
conspicuous object, while the other animals could 
not readily be seen. During this interval a sol- 
dier coming up in the rear discovered the white 
horse, and hallooed out: 

^^I have lost my horse and am on foot. Where 
is Company A?" 

Gates answered: 

"Dish vay ! Here ish Company A. Cooms up 
vere." 

The foot soldier came up and Gates asked: 

"You pelongs to Company A?" 

"Yes," said the soldier. 

The little Dutchman then said : 

"Veil dens, I ish got de pest boss in dish coom- 
pany. You shust gits up pehind me an' I vill 
takes goot care of you till you gits anoder 
hoss." 

Up the soldier got. He was a third larger 
than his kind friend, and a foot taller, with a 
pair of pistols in his belt. Off they rode. Gates 
thought he knew the voice of every man in the 
company, but did not distinguish the voice of his 
rear guard. Again he said: 

"You pelongs to Company A?" 

"Yes," replied he of the rear seat. 

Gates again asked: 

"Vot regiments dosh you pelongs to?" 

And the soldier replied : 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 35 

"The Tenth Illinois/' 

Thunder struck to find he had a Federal, but 
with much presence of mind, he said : 

"Mine guns is empty. Give me your guns, as 
we be shootin' very soon ; an' I be doin' de shoot- 
in' ash I ish in de front." 

The Federal handed him his pair of holsters. 
Then Gates felt much relieved. He drew a full 
square breath and said: 

"Now you shust sets mighty still; if you 
mooves much I will shoots you. You now bees 
mine prisoner. I is von ob de udder poys, an 
am berry dangersome if you pegin to cuts up to 
get away de least bit." 

The Federal was now astonished, and prom- 
ised to "sets mighty still." 

On they rode half a mile, soon coming up to 
where the Federals had rallied and made an- 
other stand. Captain Wheat had drawn up his 
men in the best line he could form, in the timber 
and broken ground, for another charge. The 
little Dutchman's wits were again called into 
play. He was as game as a fighting cock, and 
never fell out of ranks or to the rear to avoid a 
fight. He could not charge to any advantage 
with his prisoner behind him, and he hated to 
give him the opportunity to escape as there was 
no one to guard him. He made the gentleman 
of the Tenth Illinois dismount, hold up his right 
hand and "swear to stays right dare till I coomes 
pack after dish fight." But the Tenth Illinois 
gentleman realized and utilized the opportunity 
to slip out in the dark foliage and escape. 

Captain Wheat credits the little Dutchman 
with being a brave and true soldier and the best 



36 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

forager in the army. The wit and humor of the 
captain effervesces and overflows with tropical 
luxuriance. Born near Holly KSprings, Miss., of 
the best strain of southern blood, he grew to 
man's estate in the best decades of our country. 
For twenty-five years the friend of the writer, 
who is indebted to him for many laughs and 
pleasant memories. The sun always shines 
around him wherever he goes. He grasps the 
happy phases of life, sheds a halo of mirth over 
his companions and comrades, but when aroused 
he is a lion devoid of fear. Verging now into the 
lap of eighty years, he has long been the com- 
mander of the Old Vets of his county, and be- 
loved by them, and greatly admired for his 
worth and example of good citizenship. 



SLAUGHTER OF A PANIC STRICKEN 
BRIGADE OF IOWA SOLDIERS. 



General Bragg was commander-in-chief of the 
Confederate army and had fifteen thousand of 
all arms in action at the battle of Perryville, Ky., 
on the night of October 7, 1862. General Bragg, 
being temporarily called away, gave the com- 
mand to General Leonidas Polk, who commanded 
from the commencement, early on the 8th, until 
one p. m., when General Bragg returned and as- 
sumed command. The Federal forces under 
command of General Buel were estimated at 
forty thousand men. 

The following was related to the writer by 
n. Blevins, of the Eighth Arkansas infantry, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 37 

commanded until after the reorganization of the 
Confederate army after the battle of Shiloh by 
Colonel W. K. Patterson, the writer's college 
professor, but after that by Colonel Kelley, 
who commanded the regiment at Perryville. 

Both armies manoeuvred for position on the 
sixth and seventh of October, for the final des- 
perate struggle on the eighth. On the night of 
the seventh, at dark. Colonel Kelley took posi- 
tion on the crest of a hill overlooking a fertile 
valley below. The Confederates lay flat on the 
ground, including the colonel, who had dis- 
mounted. A public road led up the valley only 
one hundred yards distant from the Confederate 
line. Pickets were stationed in the road with in- 
structions not to fire on the approach of any body 
of soldiers, as they could not distinguish in the 
dark which army they might belong to. Within 
thirty minutes the pickets returned and notified 
the colonel of the approach of a large body of 
soldiers, but whether Confederate or Federal 
they did not know. Colonel Kelley immediate- 
ly mounted his horse and in the darkness rode to 
the head of the approaching column and asked a 
colonel what command his troops belonged to, 
and was informed that it was a brigade of Iowa 
infantry. Turning his horse, he rode a few 
paces; and, to be doubly sure, again repeated 
the inquiry, and received the same answer. 

His men lay in line of battle. He returned im- 
mediately and whispered to his captains to rise 
and approach the enemy fast but cautiously, and 
when within twenty yards to fire and charge with 
the bayonet. The enemy were mowed down with 
great slaughter, and were so panic stricken that 



38 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

they did not fire a gun. Most of them threw their 
guns away and all fled through a cornfield where 
the corn had been cut and shocked up. Many 
crawled under the shocks of corn with their feet 
sticking out. The fleeing enemy hallooed, ^Tor 
God's sake, don't shoot!" but kept on running 
without surrendering with the Confederates at 
their heels shooting and bayoneting them with 
awful slaughter. The poor fellows who took 
shelter in the corn shocks, and many others, 
were captured. The Eighth Arkansas belonged 
to General Pat K. Cleburne's brigade. 

Soldiers when panic stricken lose their self 
possession, like a flock of stampeded horses or 
sheep. These Iowa troops were probably raw re- 
cruits and under fire for the first time. But all 
the western men, when properly drilled and dis- 
ciplined, made as good soldiers as those who fol- 
lowed Lee. 



EUNAWAY KID ON THE BATTLEFIELD. 



The writer's parents lived in Sumner county, 
Tennessee, twenty-five miles from the battlefield 
of Murfreesboro. His brother, Henry Hallum, 
was a soldier in the Second Tennessee regiment, 
commanded by Colonel W. D. Robinson, Har- 
dee's corps, Cleburne's division. 

Blofund Hallum, the youngest member of the 
family, was then a kid but eleven years old. It 
was known that a great battle would soon take 
place, and Blofund ran away from home to join 
his brother and get in the pending fight. Henry 
procured a gun for him, and he took his place 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 39 

in line of battle beside bis brotber tbe morning 
that momentous conflict opened. 

Colonel Robinson discovered the kid, got off 
his horse, slapped the boy, threw his gun away, 
and ordered him to the rear. Cannon was roar- 
ing and musketry rattling all along the line, and 
the colonel marched on at the head of his men.. 
The kid was not so easily foiled. As the colonel 
rode off at the head of his column the boy picked 
up his gun and cartridge box, rejoined his 
brother, and made a soldier all through the bat- 
tle of carnage during the three days conflict,, 
and escaped without a wound. 



WAR AND LOVE ACROSS THE LINE. 



Love in all ages has defied custom and con- 
ventionalities, from cottage to throne, and its 
delirious victims have weighed the world as a 
feather against the objects of blind infatuation. 
One of the great emperors of Rome married a 
harlot, who had plied her vocation over southern 
Europe, and divided the powers of the throne 
with her. One of the czars of Russia did the 
same thing. Both queens became immortal in 
history and celebrated for great executive ability. 
But in this strange story of love and overpower- 
ing infatuation we find a new departure from the 
threadbare standards of common romancers. 
On the one hand we have a cultured beauty of 
Virginia, exhibiting the loftiest impulses of pa- 
triotism and fidelity to her native soil; on the 
other, we have a cultured officer of the northern 
army in the unenviable role of treason and deser- 



40 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

tion enslaved in the forlorn hope of unrequited 
love. 

This strange combination of events, growing 
out of the war between the states, was related 
to the writer by Campbell G. Gilmore, who was 
a cavalry soldier in the Maryland arm of the 
Confederate service, under his brother Colonel 
Harry Gilmore, who is the author of a charming 
book entitled ''Four Years in the Saddle." 

Gilmore w^as on detached service as a scout 
with twenty-five picked men from his brother's 
regiment, the Second Maryland cavalry. The 
Gilmore scouts were on duty the greater part of 
their service in the Shenandoah valley and moun- 
tain passes of Virginia. 

Lieutenant Frank Stanley, of the New York 
cavalry arm of the Federal service, commanded 
a similar squad of scouts in the same territory. 
During the winter of 1862-3, w^hen the Confed- 
erate and Union armies were in winter quarters, 
these scouting parties often came in contact, 
their headquarters being only eight miles apart, 
and some twenty miles south of Winchester. 

After much trouble and firing on each other 
these respective scouting parties agreed on a 
truce and established a neutral zone, embracing 
the territory between their respective armies. 
They were composed of young men fond of social 
entertainment during the inactivity of their re- 
spective armies, and they mutually agreed, and 
faithfully adhered to it, that the respective par- 
ties were not to molest each other within the 
neutral zone during the truce. 

The Union soldiers commanded by Stanley 
were known as the Jesse jcouts, named in honor 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 41 

of the daughter of Thomas H. Benton, wife of 
General John 0. Fremont. At this time there 
lived within the neutral zone a wealthy old Vir- 
ginia planter, a representative of the best era of 
culture and hospitality. Miss Jesse Clarke, his 
daughter, was celebrated for beauty and accom- 
plishments. The scouts frequently met at the 
hospitable mansion of Parmer Clarke, where Miss 
Jesse reigned as one of the attractions of the 
valley. 

These meetings resulted in Stanley's infatua- 
tion with the girl, his chaste and artful ap- 
proaches and proposal of marriage. His per- 
sistent appeals finally drew the reply of a he- 
roine, typical of that exaltation of patriotism so 
fully exemplified by southern ladies during every 
stage of the w^ar. She replied: 

^'However cultured and noble your position 
may be in the north, where you have been edu- 
cated in ideas and sentiment hostile to the land 
of my birth, where the people not only entertain 
views and embrace conclusions hostile to yours, 
but are now in arms to resist your wholly unjus- 
tifiable encroachments, your solicitations, if ac- 
ceded to, would involve laj loss of self respect 
and render me undesirable as the bride of a gen- 
tleman. To become the bride of an enemy in 
arms against my country, no matter how great 
my admiration might be otherwise for you, would 
involve me in hopeless despair and self condem- 
nation. Sacred memories and hallowed associa- 
tions would perish in the agonies of shame with- 
out erasing the past from my memory. The 
waters of Lethe would never pour their oblivious 
tide over the past, and nothing could restore me 



42 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

to the love and respect of my people and kin- 
dred. Such a sacrifice would be too onerous for 
a crown, and admiration has no right to demand 
it. My people and kindred are in arms against 
your people and your kindred. To forfeit their 
love and esteem would poison the current of my 
life and render it worthless, and would destroy 
my capacity to render you happy. Some of my 
kindred have gone down to patriot graves in this 
war, and I will never tarnish their name by de- 
grading my own as the bride of an enemy to the 
cause they died to sustain. I will not indicate 
what might have been the result of your attach- 
ment under other conditions. Present impossi- 
bilities render it useless and improper to invite 
discussion of theories and probabilities based on 
present conditions." 

Stanley was not anticipating the manifesta- 
tion of such resolution and will power. But he 
thought he discovered a ray of hope in the last 
sentences, which he might possibly utilize in the 
near future by removing the obstacles so forcibly 
and resolutely interposed. He was astonished at 
the strength and tenacity of purpose manifested 
by this southern girl in the morning of maturity. 
He replied: 

"The nobility of your expressions exalt you 
still higher in my estimation, whilst they fill my 
heart with grief and despairing sorrow. You 
have opened up a new world and the avenues to 
a higher life than I have hitherto conceived. You 
have clothed the conceptions of duty which ex- 
alts patriotism above the love and desires of life. 
You present to me the character of a heroine 
as noble as that of Joan De Arc without its de- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 43 

lusions of divine benediction and summons to 
arms. If you were oppressed with her supersti- 
tion you might become the leader of arms and 
leave a name as endearing in history as she 
achieved. Hitherto I have thought such person- 
alities as mere speculative ideality, but you have 
uprooted that conviction. May I infer from 
what your words seem to imply that if destiny 
had cast my lot under southern suns and educa- 
tion up to southern standards, leaving no arctic 
zone of political philosophy between us, that my 
rainbow of promise would not be deluged in 
hopeless despair?'' 

This speech, elegance of address and diction 
challenged her admiration in higher degree than 
she had ever before experienced, softened the 
vigor of expression, relaxed the resolution ex- 
pressed in her countenance, and touched her 
sympathy for his distress, and she replied : 

"Your education, aside from your patriotic and 
political affiliations, can nver span the gulf be- 
tween us. The happier conditions you refer to 
might have encouraged me to consider the pros- 
pects your mere theory presents, but we must 
not further discuss theories based on impossi- 
bilities as they now exist, and you will pardon me 
in declining any further discussion on that line." 

At this juncture they separated and Stanley 
returned to his camp, resolving in his mind the 
possibility of overcoming the obstacles in his way 
by conforming his future life, as far as possible, 
to her standards. 

Like poor Maud Muller, he sorrowed over 
"what might have been." Love is too often heed- 
less and blind, and he found consolation in her 



44 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

reph^ to his hypothetical interrogatory, and suc- 
ceeded in persuading himself that possibly he 
might remove the obstacle by deserting his colors 
and incorporating himself in the Confederate 
army. He knew that love had triumphed alike 
over thrones and cottages, and reasoned himself 
into the belief that the prize was Avorth the sac- 
rifice, and that fortune might open her narrow 
gate to the temple of Venus. Such were the hal- 
lucinations which flooded his mind in the aban- 
don of that delirious hour, and in less than ten 
days he put the test into execution by going to 
Colonel Gilmore's headquarters, where he was 
sworn into the Confederate service and to duty 
with the Gilmore scouts, at his request. 

He provided himself with the finest Confed- 
erate uniform he could procure, and hastened to 
visit Miss Clarke. When she advanced in confu- 
sion and amazement to meet him, her woman's 
intuition divined the cause. 

He said: 

^'Miss Clarke, I have expatriated myself to be- 
come a patriot in the service of your country and 
my country, to love and to admire that which you 
love and admire. Henceforth I will be as true to 
the south as General Lee. I crave the opportu- 
nity to prove at the post of danger the sincerity 
of my speech, devotion to you, and now I am 
happ3^ to say our common country and cause 
which you have convinced me to be just. If I fall 
in the clash of arms will you promise to plant a 
flower over my grave." 

She replied: 

"My woman's heart encourages profound pity. 
I gave you no encouragement whatever to think 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 45 

that any possible condition your future might 
impose would in the slightest degree modify my 
unalterable purpose. I employed the strongest 
language at my command to impress the convic- 
tion on your mind that the gulf between us is 
impassible and the gate to your suit forever 
closed. Your treason in deserting your command 
has increased my objections a thousand fold. 
The solemn obligation you assumed on entering 
the Federal army cannot be cancelled by any act 
of yours without the consent of your government. 
Treason and desertion in the face of the enemy 
in time of war is one of the greatest crimes 
known to man. Nothing within your power 
could induce me to condone such a crime. This 
must be our last interview. I bid you farewell." 

His disappointment and disgrace flooded his 
pride in the waters of Mara, and, after a month's 
service, he deserted back to the Federal army 
and once more met the Gilmore scouts in combat 
in the streets of Martinsburgh and exhibited 
reckless courage in single combat with one of 
the scouts in a running fire on horseback with 
pistols, far in the rear of his command. 

This strange story reads like a chapter from 
the romances of the Middle Ages, but every fact 
herein stated is as absolute verity as any state- 
ment in the history of the civil war. 



EXPLOSION OF THE MINE AT PETERS- 
BURGH. 



It must be remembered that there were two 
brigadier generals named Archer, who com- 



4^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

manded brigades in the civil war, viz., James F. 
Archer, of Maryland, and J. J. Archer, of Vir- 
ginia ; and to avoid confusion, it must be remem- 
bered that the scene herein related refers alone 
to General Archer of Virginia. 

Barney Davitt, one of the many heroic sons of 
Erin, was mustered into the Fifth Alabama bat- 
talion of infantry at Mobile, Ala., at the com- 
mencement of the war between the states, and 
he was an energetic actor and eye witness to the 
slaughter of several hundred negro prisoners on 
the evening of the thirtieth of July, 1864, the day 
on which General Grant exploded the mine under 
the front line of Confederate breastworks at Pet- 
ersburgh, Va. ; also to the ever memorable scene 
between Generals Lee and Archer after the mer- 
ciless slaughter of negro prisoners, captured on 
that day of slaughter. 

Preparatory to a full and thorough compre- 
hension of the forever memorable historic inci- 
dent, hitherto unrecorded by historians, let it be 
said that the Fifth Alabama battalion of in- 
fantry recruited at Mobile was incorporated in 
the brigade commanded by the celebrated Louis 
T. Wigfall, of Texas, who had represented his 
state in the United States senate. 

Before the brigade did much service Wigfall 
was elected to the Confederate States senate, and 
resigned his commission in the army for a seat in 
the Confederate senate. When Wigfall resigned. 
Brigadier General J. J. Archer, of Virginia, suc- 
ceeded him in the command of the brigade. 
Archer was a man of expansive mind and heroic 
mould, and his name will forever be associated 
with all that is chivalrous in the soldier and 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 47 

laudable in man. The soldiers in his command 
had unwavering confidence in his courage and 
ability to handle them on the field, and when he 
led them they went at the work in hand with all 
the resolution of Napoleon's guard. They loved 
and confided in him as Stonewall Jackson's men 
did in their peerless leader. 

General Grant, with almost inexhaustible re- 
sources, had for several months invested Peters- 
burgh with untiring energy and tenacity of pur- 
pose, which was perhaps the most distinguishing 
trait in his character as a soldier and general. 
Thus the two great commanders confronted each 
other, when, on the morning of the thirtieth of 
July, 1864, the Federals exploded a mine under 
the front of the extended line of fortifications 
protecting Petersburgh. 

Owing to the great disparity in numbers and 
extent of his fortifications. General Lee's troops 
were greatly extended on the outer defenses. 
The mine was exploded under a portion of 
Pegram's battery, and the Eighteenth and Twen- 
ty-second South Carolina regiments. 

The losses of the Confederates caused by the 
explosion was 354 in killed, wounded and miss- 
ing. The crater caused by the explosion was one 
hundred and thirty-five feet long, ninety-seven 
feet wide and thirty feet deep ; 1 00,000 cubic feet 
of earth was thrown into the air and fell in heavy 
masses, crushing and burying the men on which 
it fell. It was as destructive and terrific as the 
explosion of a volcano. 

Federal troops were massed to immediately 
charge through the breach into the breastworks, 
and get into position and possesion before the 



48 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

confusion incident to the exjjlosion could be 
overcome by the Confederates. Confusion is an 
inseparable incident to such an unanticipated oc- 
currence, and before the Confederates overcome 
it the Federals came swarming in triple columns 
into the crater and filled it with both white and 
negro troops, the latter being pushed in advance, 
and many Federals mounted the parapets. 

But the Confederates under Major General Bush- 
rod E. Johnson, of Tennessee, who had charge 
of that portion of the line of defense, rallied with 
the courage and enthusiasm of Bonaparte's 
charge at Lodi, and drove a portion of the Fed- 
erals back in a confused mass into the crater, 
])ut they held stubbornly to the breastworks from 
five a. m. until two p. m. The battle raged with 
unabated fury for near nine hours, and until 
General Mahone's division reinforced the defend- 
ers. The Confederates were masters of the field. 
General Johnson's division lost about one thou- 
sand men. They captured several hundred negro 
troops, who v\ ere turned over to General Archer's 
brigade late in the day, to be marched to the rear 
as prisoners of war. 

Now comes one of the most remarkable and de- 
plorable tragedies of the war, which for obvious 
reasons has not until now found its place in his- 
tory. But, be it always remembered, that neither 
General Archer nor any of the officers under him 
are, or were, in the least responsible for the fren- 
zied slaughter of the negro prisoners by the sol- 
diers of his brigade. Fidelity to history, which 
belongs to all mankind, must give way to the 
vitiated sentiment which would do injustice to 
truth and hide and cover up partisan frailty. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 49 

The light ought to be turned on, that truth may 
illuminate every historic event of so much signifi- 
cance. 

It is a matter of common notoriety that the 
southern people were intense in their feelings 
against the slaves who bore arms against their 
owners. That servile element of the northern 
army amounted to more than two hundred thou- 
sand men. The south viewed the action of the 
northern people in arming the slaves much in the 
same light that our revolutionary sires did the 
English for arming the Indians to burn and de- 
stroy non-combatants. 

When the brigade arrived with the negroes at 
the rear of the water works in Petersburgh they 
met a wounded Confederate soldier, who had 
been wounded in the fight that day in front of a 
negro brigade. One of the negro prisoners, who 
was the slave of the wounded Confederate, met 
and accosted his master in an insolent manner, 
and in a moment of anger the master shot and 
killed him on the spot. From that incident the 
slaughter of the negroes commenced and contin- 
ued in frenzied fury until all the negroes were 
dead. Davitt says one of the negroes was a mu- 
latto, who cried out: 

"Spare my life. I have a white woman in Phil- 
adelphia who is my wife." 

But that was the poorest of all recommenda- 
tions to a southern soldier for mercy. 

General Archer and all of his officers did all 
in their power to prevent the slaughter. But 
command during that frenzied moment was of no 
more weight of resistance than a zephyr in the 
pathway of a storm. But one man was spared. 



5° Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

and he was a white officer over the captured ne- 
groes. When a gun was leveled at this white 
officer over negroes, one of the brigade officers 
sprang in front of him and cried out : 

"He is a white man ; don't kill him. You shall 
not kill him without killing me too.'' And that 
saved him. 

No man of the army regretted this slaughter 
more than General Archer. The news was soon 
carried to General Lee, who immediately rode 
down in haste to the brigade and ordered the 
men under arrest without including General 
Archer, whose lips and face and mien indicated 
extraordinary excitement. Drawing his sword, 
he handed it to General Lee, and said : 

"To you I surrender this sword as bright and 
untarnished as when I first wore it as one of your 
subordinates. I thank my God and the heroic 
but erring men you order to lay down their arms, 
that no enemy has ever been able to command 
this act of surrender. Look at that half clothed, 
half fed skeleton of a once glorious command. 
Ask them where their comrades left them, no 
more to answer to roll call, and they will tell 
you at Fredericksburg, Manasses, the Wilder- 
ness, Cedar Mountain, Mechanicsville, Frazer's 
Farm, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg and many other 
battlefields. They died the death of soldiers, 
facing the rattle of musketry and cannon's roar. 
Take my sword. General. You have shared their 
glory; I will share their shame." 

General Lee was visibly affected, and with gen- 
tle voice said: 

"Put up your sword, General Archer, and wait 
until I ask for it. As an officer you have not 
been censured." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 51 

General Lee then rode off, silent and sorrow- 
ful, and the brigade was marched off to prison. 
General Archer threw down his sword and 
marched to prison with his men. When he threw 
down his sword, he said : 

"My unfortunate men can honor it no more, 
and I will no longer wear it." 

What passed in General Lee's mind will never 
be known. His army was in great peril and very 
short of soldiers to overcome it, and he had none 
to fill the gap Archer's brigade left vacant, with- 
out endangering other points. Whatever his dis- 
tressed mind may have undergone, he thought it 
best to release the men and order them to resume 
their places in line. And this he did after they 
had been confined only two hours. That act of 
devotion to his men endeared both General Lee 
and General Archer to that heroic brigade. 

Steptoe Washington, of the Forty-seventh Vir- 
ginian infantry, of whom much has been said in 
other parts of this volume, informed the writer 
that his regiment was on guard immediately over 
the mine for one week before the explosion, and 
that the night before the explosion his regiment 
was relieved and marched to another part of the 
line. He also says that General Lee was fully 
aware that a tunnel was being excavated extend- 
ing to the fortification on that part of his lines, 
and that he purposely thinned out his men on 
that part of the line as much as he possibly could 
with safety, in order to protect them against 
danger from the coming explosion when the mine 
was touched off. 

He also says that he saw General Lee with only 
two staff oflBcers in front of his regiment with 



52 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

sounding trump or funnel listening to the noise 
of the workmen in the tunnel, which could be 
heard with perfect distinction. It is well known 
that the ground is a good conductor of sound. 
The sounding trump was a hollow metallic cyl- 
inder, three or four feet long, funnel shaped at 
one end, over which the ear was placed after in- 
serting the tube in the ground. This ingenious 
device acted like a telephone in conveying sound. 
Washington also says that he felt more uneasi- 
ness whilst encamped over that tunnel than he 
did in the battles of the Wilderness, Malvern 
Hill or Gettysburg, and that the privates on that 
part of the line all knew that the enemy was 
tunneling in the preparation of an explosion; 
but of course no one knew, not even the com- 
manding general, when it would occur. 

The enemy's main trenches consisted of two 
ditches, one within one hundred, the other within 
fifty yards of the Confederate line. The Confed- 
erates on guard would often poke their hats just 
above the trenches which protected them, and in 
almost every instance the enemy's sharpshooters 
would hit them. Washington was in the fearful 
fight that raged around and in the vicinity of the 
crater, and could hear the white officers com- 
manding the negro troops give the command to 
"show no quarters." To which the Confederates 
replied, "Damn you; we don't ask any quarters, 
and we will give none." 

Thus in the progress of that deathly struggle 
the strongest passions that animate men were in- 
voked. The white officers who gave that com- 
mand were immediately singled out by the sol- 
diers of their own motion and shot down, leaving 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 53 

the negro troops crowded in that crater in the 
greatest confusion. It is also a well established 
fact that these negroes were plied with whiskey 
before being led into the crater, just as the negro 
troops were supplied with whiskey at Fort Pil- 
low and Port Hudson. 

A. P. Osborne, of General Gregg's command 
of South Carolinians, says that a short time be- 
fore the explosion at Petersburgh, and near Ber- 
muda Hundred, several hundred negro troops 
were killed under similar circumstances. 

In corroboration of Davitt's statement of the 
slaughter of the negroes, Washington says that 
late in the evening of the victorious repulse, he 
saw about three hundred negro prisoners march- 
ing to the rear along the line of his regiment, and 
that nearly all of them appeared to be wounded 
in greater or less degree, and did not see them 
afterwards, as his regiment went into camp three 
miles distant. 



HON. JOHN G. FLETCHER, OF LITTLE 
ROCK, ARK. 



This distinguished citizen and old Confederate 
veteran deserves the everlasting gratitude of his 
old comrades in the days of revolution and war. 
A native to the manor born, of pioneer stock, who 
came to Arkansas in the days of territorial pup- 
ilage. He was born and reared to man's estate 
on a farm in Saline county, where he learned 
that robust discipline for integrity and manhood 
which has been his chart and compass through 
an eventful life of honor, usefulness and good 



54 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

citizenship. At twenty-four years of age he 
moved to Little Rock because it afforded a wider 
range of opportunity for the development of 
those business qualifications which has ultimated 
in placing him at the head of the strongest finan- 
cial institution in the state — president of the 
German National Bank of Little Rock. A poor 
farm boy, step by step his progress has been grad- 
ual to positions higher and stronger at each suc- 
cessive advance — alderman of the city, mayor, 
sheriff of the county, and for the last twenty 
years president of the bank. He has frequently 
been drawn out at a tangent in the political arena 
and urged by the thinking, conservative element 
of the Democratic party as a candidate for gov- 
ernor, because of his robust integrity and great 
business qualifications, but he has never been a 
man to tickle the populace and curry favor wher- 
ever it conflicted with those sound elements of 
administration which lie at the foundation of 
good government. 

But it is his soldier's life, during and since the 
war, with which we are more particularly con- 
cerned. At the commencement of hostilities he 
entered the army as a private in Company A, 
Sixth Arkansas infantry. His sterling quali- 
ties as a soldier and man were very soon recog- 
nized, and he was soon promoted to the rank of 
first lieutenant in his company. At the reorgan- 
ization of his regiment in the spring of 1862 he 
was chosen captain of his company. His regi- 
ment was in General Hardee's brigade in the 
Kentucky campaign in the fall of 1861 and spring 
of 1862. He was engaged in the battles of Wood- 
sonville, December, 1861. After the seige of Cor- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 55 

inth, he was with Bragg's army at Chattanooga ; 
thence with the march of that army into Ken- 
tucky, where he gallantly led his company in the 
severely contested battle of Perry ville. 

After the retreat to Tennessee, his regiment 
was incorporated in LiddelFs brigade. On De- 
cember 31, 1862, he led his company with con- 
spicuous gallantry in the battle of Murfreesboro, 
where he was shot down and very severely 
wounded. In the din and carnage of that great 
battle he was left helpless on the field and cap- 
tured by the Federals. He was specially com- 
mended for conspicuous gallantry on that bloody 
field by that splendid leader. General Cleburne. 
He was taken to the hospital at Murfreesboro, 
where he remained more than three months. Af- 
ter recovering sufficiently to travel, he was sent 
as a prisoner of war to Fort Henry, near Balti- 
more, and there held during the summer of 1863. 
In the fall of that year he was sent to City Point 
and exchanged. He rejoined his command at 
Chickamauga station and was hotly engaged Sep- 
tember 19th and 20th in the ever memorable bat- 
tles of Chickamauga. After the two days battle 
Captain Fletcher was no longer able for field 
service, and because of his ability, conservatism 
and great good judgment was assigned to duty 
on the general court martial of the Army of Ten- 
nessee. That position as a judge is the highest 
man can assign his fellow mortal, and he dis- 
charged the onerous duties of that responsible 
position with distinguished ability, mitigating 
the harshness of military law whenever justice 
appealed to the spirit rather than to the letter of 
the law. The sessions of that court were held at 



56 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Atlanta, and afterwards at Macon, Ga., where 
the command was surrendered on the 26th of 
April, 1865. Captain Fletcher returned home, 
like most of the heroes who wore the gray, with 
no fortune save that of a patriot and hero with 
untarnished name and the respect and love of his 
comrades. 

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great 
riches.'^ But Captain Fletcher has earned both, 
without the least jar to that integrity of purpose 
which has rounded out his noble citizenship as a 
heritage to his native state. 

But the half would not be told were we to stop 
here. His name is revered by the old Confederate 
veterans of Arkansas as their great and powerful 
friend, many hundreds of whom he has materi- 
ally aided through the suffering and storms of 
old age. His generous and heroic heart has al- 
ways gone out to them. The sordid hand of av- 
arice and miserly love of wealth has never closed 
his heart and purse against them. He started at 
the foundation of the Confederate Home in Ark- 
ansas with a subscription of $500, and has been 
the president of the board of directors of that 
noble institution from then until the present 
time. He has contributed largely to the Confed- 
erate monument fund, a monument to be soon 
erected in the beautiful capitol grounds of the 
state, to proclaim the patriotism of her sons to 
coming generations. These noble works lie close 
to his heart. 

At the general reunion of the old veterans at 
Houston, Texas, he was elected commander of 
the Arkansas division, with the rank of major 
general, a well deserved compliment. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 57 



A NAME THAT OUGHT TO LIVE IN SONG 
AND HISTORY. 



A. C. Richardson, a private in the celebrated 
Third Texas cavalry, tells the following story of 
the heroic William Nelson, of the same command. 

Nelson was as reckless as brave and as noble 
in his friendship as any soldier of the civil war. 
He had rode in a hundred cavalry charges under 
General Ross, his brigade commander, and under 
General Forrest, whose courage and skill has 
never been excelled by any cavalry commander in 
the history of the wars of the world. 

Once when on picket duty on the Chattahoo- 
chee river, twelve miles above Atlanta, before the 
fall of that city, his squad confronted a similar 
Federal picket station on the opposite bank of 
the river, who kept up a constant fire on the Con- 
federates at a distance of near one-half mile with 
the best improved long range guns, and the Con- 
federates took a hand, neither party doing much 
damage. During this long range duel Nelson 
became absorbed in a newspaper and took a seat 
in an exposed position with his back to the en- 
emy, whilst bullets from their long range guns 
occasionally struck in dangerous proximity. His 
comrades took more secure positions, where they 
were protected, and only advanced within view 
of the enemy when they discharged their guns. 
His comrades frequetly urged him to take a more 
secure position and avoid needless danger, to 
which he as often replied, ^'They can't hit me at 
that distance," and continued to read until he 
finished the paper. He then rose up to advance 



5S Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

and give the paper to a comrade. At that mo- 
ment a ball from the enemy's fire struck him in 
the back, inflicting what the surgeons pronounced 
a mortal wound; but after long suffering he re- 
covered and rejoined his command. 

Late in 1864 he was again, with three com- 
rades, stationed on picket duty on the Chatta- 
hoochee river, not far from where he was wound- 
ed. They occupied a dangerous position, not far 
from the enemy's greatly superior numbers, and 
were in expectation of being attacked and prob- 
ably overpowered, but they resolved, come what 
might, not to surrender under any contingency. 
They had seen their commanders cut their way 
through the enemy's lines where escape seemed 
impossible, and they resolved to do likewise when 
the desperation of their situation might call for 
such acts of heroism. They were all young men, 
but veterans from long service and an hundred 
battles under as brave leaders as martial glory 
ever crowned with heroic deeds. 

In that position, and without reserves in sup- 
porting distance, they were attacked by superior 
numbers, and Nelson was again so dangerously 
wounded that he could not retreat, but could load 
and handle his gun. A few minutes before the 
tide of life ebbed away, his three comrades gath- 
ered around to die with him. 

"Help me to that tree," he said, "where I can 
get a few more shots before I die, and hold them 
in check whilst you make your escape." 

"We will help you to the tree," they said, "but 
will not leave you." 

"You must retreat," he said, "I can hold them 
until you escape. Save yourselves. You will 



Eeminiscences of the Civil War. 59 

still be of service to your country, whilst I must 
die here. It will be a useless sacrifice of your 
lives to remain a moment longer. You cannot 
protect me and escape." 

He fired two more shots before he fell, and his 
comrades made their escape. 

The story of Damon and Pythias is yet as fa- 
miliar as it was to Dionysius in the long past 
ages of Helenic ascendancy in the highways of 
human greatness. It is perhaps a mythical crea- 
tion of Attic literature which has charmed the 
world of letters for more than three thousand 
years. 

May fame wreath her laurel chaplet around the 
name of William Nelson, and forever stand sen- 
tinel over his unknown grave. May his unselfish 
heroism crown the dome of our tragic Pantheon. 
May the epic muse of coming ages tune the lyre 
of immortal song to the youth of coming ages, 
and Texas, his native soil, forever remember his 
place in her history, and that of the Confederacy. 



LIEUTENANT SAMUEL A. LOUDEK. 



"A thousand g-lorious actions that mig-ht claim 
Triumphant laurels and immortal fame, 
Confused in crowds of glorious actions lie, 
And troops of heroes undisting-uished die." 

When Mars lighted the torch of war between 
the states in 1861, and arrayed Federal against 
Confederate, it aroused a spirit of patriotism and 
heroism unsurpassed in the annals of the world. 
The Confederate States at that time had no mili- 
tary organizations other than a few undisciplined 



6o Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

militia battalions, mostly without arms and 
equipments. Everything pertaining to military 
organization, discipline and equipment had to be 
created — organized in haste — to confront the mo- 
mentous exigencies attending the opening cam- 
paigns in the greatest and bloodiest civil war 
known to the history of mankind. More than 
three millions of warriors in the aggregate 
swelled the firing line before the close of the final 
tragedy. It was natural for such conditions at 
the commencement of hostilities to encourage in- 
dependent commands in the Confederate States 
before the civil and military arms of the govern- 
ment were created and established on a firm 
basis. Ninety per cent, of the soldiers of the 
Confederacy were drawn from the patriotic agri- 
cultural classes of the south. Many of these in- 
dependent organizations were armed and 
equipped by themselves at their own expense. On 
this idea they conceived and based their right to 
control themselves in their military operations. 
But these organizations after the revolution were 
consolidated into organized forces and were 
drawn into the regular service. It is the purpose 
of this sketch to give an epitome of one of these 
independent arms, as an introduction to the he- 
roic deeds of one man — Captain Samuel L. 
Louder. 

In 1861 there was organized in Davidson and 
adjoining counties, in North Carolina, "Clai- 
borne's independent cavalry rangers," twelve 
hundred strong, rank and file, composed of well 
to do farmers, many of them wealthy. They 
armed and equipped themselves at their own ex- 
pense, and had the finest horses to be found, it 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 6i 

was said the finest in the Confederate service, 
except perhaps some in the cavalry arm from 
Kentucky. These animals were valued at $200 
each, an aggregate of |240,000. Their arms, con- 
sisting of double barrel shotguns, a pair of Colt's 
army pistols, and a sword, at the aggregate cost 
of 136,000. Their bridles, saddles and halters 
cost f 18,000. Two suit of clothing of gray home- 
spun jeans, valued at fl5, aggregating $18,000. 
A few had Colt's revolving rifles, and swords 
costing from |10 to f50. Altogether the equip- 
ment of these twelve hundred rangers cost $300,- 
000. Louder was first lieutenant of Company M, 
but from frequent disability of his captain, com- 
manded the company most of the time. 

This independent arm of the service after the 
first ten months was by unanimous vote consoli- 
dated with the regular troops of the service, but 
out of consideration for their splendid discipline 
and chivalrous bearing on many fields were per- 
mitted to retain their original name and organi- 
zation. By capture they had armed themselves 
with the regular cavalry carbine, with which they 
replaced the old shotgun. Louder had two plan- 
tations on the historic Yadkin river, and many 
slaves. His fine mansion overlooked the Yadkin 
as its rippling waters rolled on to the sea, and 
they will chant a lullaby to the fame and heroism 
of the warrior who sprang from the soil of its 
valleys as long as her waters mingle with the 
sea. 

It is not within the limited scope of this book 
to give the details of the many charges of this 
squadron and its brilliant achievements at Fred- 
ericksburgh, Plymouth, Newbern and many other 



62 Beminiscences of the Civil War, 

bloody fields, nor its hundred achievements as a 
detailed corps of observation scouts and on the 
picket and firing line. This in itself would fill a 
volume. It is of Louder alone we will now write. 
Suffice it to say that less than twenty-five soldiers 
of this command were ever captured. That, 
though frequently surrounded by overwhelming 
numbers, they always charged with the splendor 
of Ney or Murat and cut their way out. When 
this heroic corps surrendered after Appomattox, 
but one hundred and fifty answered to the last 
roll call, when the banners of the gray were for- 
ever furled. The remainder who did not answer 
the call had not survived the lost cause. They 
slept in the bivouac of the dead "on fame's eter- 
nal camping ground.'' 

It is only the great commanding generals who 
get credit for these achievements and go down in 
history wearing the laurel wreath of fame en- 
shrined in the memory and gratitude of the peo- 
ple whose cause they defended, whilst the name 
of the common patriot soldier who won this fame 
with his blood and life joins the long roll of the 
forgotten, whilst his tomb is the foundation on 
which the superstructure of a nation's glory 
rests. The foundation and superstructure of 
Koman greatness and world wide empire was 
builded and cemented in oceans of blood, fed for 
twelve hundred years by the prowess and life of 
millions of men. But how few the names and 
deeds of individual heroism are registered in the 
Pantheon dedicated to her fame. 

Bonaparte, at the time he commenced the in- 
vasion of Russia, commanded eleven hundred 
thousand men, distributed over his vast empire. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 63 

But how short the roster of the soldiers of daunt- 
less courage, on whose blood and bones spilt and 
crushed in battle on which the foundation of 
his colossal fame rests. So it was in our armies 
in the war between the states. So it has ever been 
and will ever be — the consolidation and aggrega- 
tion of the joint heroism of many thousands of 
men are crystallized into the fame of a few com- 
manders. 

There were in the southern army thousands of 
privates in the ranks who were far superior as 
commanders to the majority of colonels and brig- 
adiers, whose political influence elevated them to 
positions they were not competent to fill. Of 
course, there were brilliant exceptions, but they 
were very largely in the minority. 

The heroism of "the men behind the guns" on 
the firing line is condensed and compounded in 
generic terms — heroism of the southern soldier — 
embracing all the deeds of hundreds of thou- 
sands of heroes in one pithy sentence. It could 
not well be otherwise where such vast numbers 
are formed on the same standards and are joint 
actors in the same great tragic achievements. 
Whilst it is impossible for history to single out 
and record the separate deeds of all, yet there is 
even an enchanting interest when history de- 
scends from her lofty pedestal to hand honors to 
the few who act the noblest parts in the humblest 
positions, as specimen illustrations of the myr- 
iads she cannot thus honor. 

Lieutenant Louder was always sent to the out- 
posts when danger challenged vigilance and cau- 
tion, iron nerve and sound judgment. In Decem- 
ber, 1863, when a division of the Army of Vir- 



64 Beminiscences of the Civil War. 

ginia was stationed in the fortifications around 
Petersburgh, Louder was sent out with twenty 
men on the Suffolk road fifteen miles, to perform 
picket duty, one of the most dangerous posts on 
the line. Three men had been killed at a certain 
post. In stationing his pickets he said to his 
men: 

"This is the most dangerous post of all. Here 
three men have been killed on their post in the 
darkness of the night. I will not assign any of 
you to this post ; I will take it myself." 

It was cold and snowing. They were not al- 
lowed to build a fire, and were instructed from 
headquarters to remain in their saddles and not 
to dismount under any circumstances when on 
picket duty at that post. This dangerous post 
was on level ground, within twenty-five yards of 
an old fence. Louder saw at a glance that 
the danger would be much diminished if he 
dismounted and stood beside his horse, with the 
horse between him and the danger point. That 
position also gave him another advantage. He 
had learned from his grandfather, an old soldier 
in the war of the revolution, that the faint re- 
fraction of the clouds from the earth on a dark 
night enabled a picket guard, by stooping down 
low, to see an object better than when standing. 
So he disobeyed orders on this occasion, and dis- 
mounted, and utilized the best method to detect 
the advance of an enemy and to protect both him- 
self and the army he was guarding. 

At two o'clock in the morning in the quiet 
darkness of the night he heard a slight rustling 
noise in the fence corner twenty yards distant, 
and on stooping low he saw an object, like a large 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 65 

black hog, moving from one fence corner to an- 
other. He commanded the object to halt and 
give the countersign, and was answered by a 
grunt from the hog, which kept slowly moving 
to the next fence corner, so as to get in better 
range, the horse being between them. Then 
Louder whispered to himself, "Be you hog or 
goblin damned, I'll fire," thinking if a hog it 
would afford much relished food for his men, 
and if an enemy in disguise he would get the first 
shot. Stooping low, with his gun resting on his 
knee, he took deliberate aim and fired. At the 
crack of the gun the dark object rolled over and 
lay there in perfect silence. He did not approach 
the object until several of his men came up. All 
moved cautiously with guns in position to fire 
if necessary. The object was covered with a 
bearskin and as dead as a stcne. When turned 
over and uncovered it was found to be an Indian 
in the Federal service, who had crept up in the 
disguise of a hog, having been successful in the 
three former efforts to take off the picket guard 
at that post. No other picket was killed 
at that post. This attests the difference in the 
sagacity and caution of different men when act- 
ing under the same circumstances. If he had sat 
on his horse and obeyed orders the Indian would 
have killed him. The bravery of Louder, directed 
by the umost prudence and sagacity, in hun- 
dreds of instances led to his call to the post of 
danger. Such men are always in demand and 
are of the utmost value to an army. But this is 
but one insignificant instance compared to his 
many other feats and deeds. 



66 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

At the battle of Newbern, North Carolina, af- 
ter desperate fighting he found his company com- 
pletely surrounded and but two alternatives left 
— either to surrender or cut their way through 
the lines. To surrender as long as a forlorn hope 
animated his breast — the word was not in the 
vocabulary of his daring heroism. Aligning his 
men, he gave the order, "Forward ! Charge!" and 
they went like a whirlwind. Feats of impetuous 
daring always impart a wavering doubt in the 
minds of soldiers forced to become a bulwark 
against the impetuous charges of cavalry. They 
broke through surprised ranks of Federal infan- 
try and lost but one man, whose horse fell in a 
ditch and dismounted the rider. Louder received 
two bayonet wounds in leg and thigh, 
after discharging the guns carried in his 
holster, then cutting with his sabre in 
hand to hand conflict. This conflict — 
sword against bayonet thrusts — marvelously led 
to the escape of the leader of that desperate 
charge amidst the whistling of a rain of bullets 
all around the rider and his superb charger. The 
bayonet wounds were bandaged by the surgeon, 
and although very painful, the soldier never for 
one day rested or retired from active duty. 

In the winter of 1863-4, the Federals were mak- 
ing desperate efforts to get possession of the Cen- 
tral railroad leading from the south into Rich- 
mond, bringing supplies to Lee's army, and it 
was a matter of much importance to guard that 
road with men, true and tried, for many miles. 
Colonel Claiborne with his North Carolina 
rangers was put in charge of a line five miles 
along this road. Other officers were put in 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 67 

charge of other portions of the road. Louder 
with his company was placed at one of the most 
critical points on the road. Fifteen miles dis- 
tant from Louder's post, and behind almost im- 
penetrable jungles and swamps in the valley of 
Black river, a camp of Federals was stationed 
behind a morass. From this secluded retreat 
they often issued and did much damage. Colonel 
Claiborne was anxious to put a stop to these 
raids from behind the jungle and morass, so im- 
penetrable to his cavalry. He was as magnani- 
mous as noble and chivalrous, and was unwilling 
to give peremptory orders to his lieutenant to 
enter the morass to dislodge or drive out the 
enemy. To avoid doing so, he offered a reward 
of one hundred dollars in gold to Louder to un- 
dertake the enterprise. 

Louder replied: 

"I appreciate the confidence you have ever re- 
posed in me, and will struggle to the end to merit 
it ; but you will pardon me in declining a reward 
for doing that which the life of a soldier imposes 
as a duty. I am not fighting for gold, but for a 
much greater reward — the liberation of our coun- 
try from the oppression of those who are seeking 
to become our masters. Make out your request 
in the shape of an order and I will endeavor to 
execute it." 

This simple speech touched the emotional sym- 
pathy of the colonel, and he said: 

"The highest tribute ever paid to the children 
of men by the Sufferer on Calvary was, 'Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant.' I have 
repeated that before because T know that as a 
soldier you have been cast in heroic mold." 



68 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Then with a firm grasp of the hand and steady 
gaze into his eye, indicative of more than lan- 
guage commands, a tear crept down the face, to 
honor that nobility of manhood which was the 
bond of union between these soldiers. 

Men of chivalric mold are always tender of 
heart. General Forrest, with an iron will, culti- 
vated the tenderest emotions which often found 
expression in the noblest acts. General Marion, 
of revolutionary fame, honored his manhood with 
deepest sympathy and tenderest emotions. The 
calumniators of the heroes of this great south- 
land, who poison histories, school books and sen- 
ates, may be "as cold as the snow that drank the 
brave Montgomery's blood," but there is a spirit 
of truth and justice that points its arrows sun- 
ward, that will forever flood the memories of 
their descendants, and preserve the recollection 
of their deeds and sacrifices as fresh and pure as 
Eden was on the morn of creation. 

There are sacred moments in the life of all ra- 
tional beings, when all that is divine in man rises 
from the depths of the soul in the silent yet pow- 
erful manifestation of tears. Who has ever 
read Peter Harry's "Life of Marion,'' and the 
frugal repast of roasted potatoes on which he 
dined a British officer, on a log in the wilderness, 
without feeling the highest impulse of patriotism 
and communion with his God in the benediction 
of tears. Who has ever looked on the ragged, 
bare footed, half fed southern soldier, in the shiv- 
ering winds of winter, around his camp fire, with 
rags for a hat and cloths tied to his feet, await- 
ing the order to fall in line and march to the bat- 
tlefield, without feeling that such men glorified 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 69 

their cause and country as much as the widow 
who cast her last mite into the treasury glorified 
religion and inspired the Savior to clothe her 
deed in the radiance of immortality. 

In such men patriotism found its highest ex- 
pression, and God the fruition of his greatest 
work, exhibited in the noblest of his children. 
They cherished the organic vitality of the cov- 
enants of their forefathers, which alone made 
the union of the states possible, with as much 
fidelity and devotion as the old Jewish patriarch 
cherished the ark of the covenant with God. 



LOUDER^S SPLENDID GENERALSHIP. 



Louder picked forty of the best men in the 
regiment and sent a few scouts after dark into 
the morass, to discover the location of the pickets 
and camp of the enemy. They picked and forced 
their way through tangled mass of jungle to a 
point near the opposite terminus and witnessed 
the station and position of one solitary picket on 
the border of the morass, and discovered the 
camp about two hundred yards distant on higher 
ground. Leaving one scout on guard, the remain- 
ing two were sent back one mile across the 
morass to conduct their comrades across. With 
Louder at the head, they made their way with 
great difficulty and silence, often in water and 
mud waist deep. The cracking of a stick, or a 
slight noise, would have aroused the attention of 
the solitary picket. When they reached a point 
within two hundred yards of the picket station 
Louder halted his men, and proceeded with one 



7o Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

of his aides to the station where his own scout 
stood watch. In the darkness, under the over- 
hanging foliage, a man could not be distinguished 
twenty feet distant. Louder, after finding the 
proximate position of the picket, proceeded alone, 
found his way to the rear, and crawled on all 
fours with the utmost caution to a position 
within fifteen feet of the picket, whose face was 
at right angles with the enemy, who appeared 
to be peering on a line with the morass. Then he 
bounded with the spring of a lion, seized the 
picket by the collar of his coat, with pistol in his 
face, with the admonition that if he made the 
least noise he would kill him instantly. Then he 
demanded the countersign under the penalty of 
instant death if he refused ; and the sentinel gave 
the countersign. Then Louder brought forward 
all of his men. The flickering camp fires dis- 
closed the position of the enemy's camp. From 
the prisoner they learned that Lieutenant Barns 
was in command of sixty men, and that the lieu- 
tenant occupied a log cabin seventy-five yards 
from the camp of his men. Louder cautiously 
surrounded the camp, and then proceeded with 
one of his men to the cabin, where the lieutenant 
slumbered in unconscious apprehension of dan- 
ger. Louder knocked on the door, and the lieu- 
tenant asked : 

"Who comes there?" 

He was answered : 

"A friend." 

"Then give the countersign," he said; and it 
was given. 

The lieutenant then vacated his bed, lighted 
the room and opened the door — to face a gun 
and demand of surrender. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 71 

His astonishment can better be conceived than 
described. He was a brave soldier, but could 
only manifest his courage with his tongue. The 
sixty men in the camp were then aroused and 
captured. Not a gun had been fired. The dis- 
comfited and mortified lieutenant asked Louder : 

"How in the h — 1 did you get to my camp with- 
out arousing my pickets?" 

When told that they had marched through the 
morass, captured the picket on duty there, and 
forced him to silence under penalty of death, and 
to give the countersign, the lieutenant said : 

"I did not think a d — n dog could get through 
that jungle. You may thank the stars that I did 
not get notice of your coming. You would have 
found a raging h — 1 to greet you with bloody 
hands if I had not been surprised through the in- 
efficiency and cowardice of the miserable wretch 
you captured and even compelled his craven soul 
to give you the countersign. Coward ! Traitor ! 
If we are ever exchanged I will see that he dies 
on the gallows." 

"Come, come," said Louder, "you have been 
playing some h — 1 yourself hid away behind this 
impenetrable morass, from wh'ch you sallied, 
and then stole back before you could be over- 
taken. 

Then he gave the order to pack up the provi- 
sion, and said: 

"Lieutenant, I will have the honor of your 
presence in a better location than this, where 
you will be treated with all the courtesy and con- 
sideration your position requires at the hands of 
gentlemen." 



72 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

The commissary of the Federals was well sup- 
plied with sugar, coffee, hams, canned goods, 
etc., in abundance, including three fingers 
of fine whiskey to each man. The hungry 
and dry Confederates had a Pentecostal feast. 
They had a fine meal before leaving. Each man 
— prisoners and victors — carried a load of good 
things away. By marching ten miles around the 
morass they had a very good road back to Colonel 
Claiborne's headquarters, where they arrived in 
the afternoon to the great joy of rank and file. 



A BULL FIGHT IN CAMP. 



The loose cattle were sometimes troublesome 
around the camp, browsing around and appro- 
priating provender fed to the cavalry horses. On 
one of these occasions a very large vicious bull 
became quite troublesome. Monarch of all he 
surveyed, he bowed his neck, pawed the earth, 
and offered battle whenever man invaded his do- 
minions. Captain Louder sent for his owner and 
politely requested him to remove and keep the 
obnoxious beast away, but the old miserly hay- 
seed refused any effort in that direction. 

A powerful athlete belonging to the company 
stood by listening to the conversation, and, be- 
coming indignant to the indifference of the 
farmer, said to him : 

"If you don't take and keep him away from 
this camp, I will take a club and beat your bull 
to death. 

The old agricultural gentleman laughed heart- 
ily and said : 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 73 

"Soldier, did you ever bite off more than you 
could chew? When you tackle Old Darb for a 
fight you will want help mighty quick to turn 
him loose. Sail in when you get ready, if you 
can stimulate and prop up your resolution to 
make your word good." 

Old Darb was then but a few rods away, paw- 
ing the earth, bowing his neck, and bellowing de- 
fiance to any comer. The old farmer's ridicule 
and eulogy of the power and prowess of the bull 
nettled the soldier, who was aggravated by the 
derisive laughter of his comrades, who shared 
the conviction of the old hayseed. He went 
forthwith and procured a stout club and came to 
the test in a few minutes. The owner again 
jeered him, and said : 

"You will find fighting the yankees mere child's 
play to a battle with Old Darb. You had better 
let him alone and keep out of his way. I give 
you good advice and fair warning, and you must 
not blame me after Old Darb does you up. Bet- 
ter make your will, if you are going to stick to 
the finish." 

Nothing daunted, he advanced on the beast, 
taking the precaution to get near a large tree. 
The bull opened the ball, and sallied round and 
round the tree. The soldier seized the end of his 
narrative, wrapped it firmly around his hand 
so the tail hold would not slip. Then with pon- 
derous blows he followed up the enemy's rear 
line, knocked off first one horn, then the other, 
then knocked out one eye and mashed in two 
ribs. The bull could stand it no longer. He 
broke at a double quick, the soldier still holding 
his narrative. As they passed a tree the soldier 



74 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

with a lithe spring lapped the tail around it, and 
the earnest momentum of the retreat jerked the 
caudle appendage off within six inches of its 
advance heyond the backbone. 

Thus ended the battle. The triumphant con- 
testant then approached the astounded and dis- 
comfited owner, with the end of his thumb touch- 
ing the tip of his nose, his front fingers dancing 
a jig, and said : 

"Old hayseed, where does the laugh best fit in 
now? I will give you a dollar if you can tell me 
which has the best judgment, you or the bull. Go 
home; your champion performer needs repairs, 
and that badly. Evidently he has passed his 
best day." 

The reader can better imagine than describe 
that break in the monotony of camp life. 



CAPTURE OF THE SHIRT-TAIL SQUAD. 



Passing over a hundred heroic deeds and 
achievements to the summer of 1864, when the 
Federals were crowding by force of numbers the 
Confederates in every theatre of the war to the 
last ditch, when it was obvious to every intelli- 
gent mind that the road to Appomattox was 
short, in July of that year the Federals stationed 
at Newbern, N. C, were comparatively inactive. 

Near Battle Creek they had a small outpost, 
consisting of sixty infantry and ten cavalrymen, 
whose duty was to scout and reconnoitre. There 
was no Confederate force in the vicinity to mo- 
lest them, and they had an easy job and held it 
well in hand by foraging on the best the farmers 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 75 

for many miles around could supply. With noth- 
ing to molest them, they became careless and con- 
sulted their ease and good camp fare more than 
the more serious occupation of war. For their 
camping ground they selected an old wornout 
field, in which a dense growth of pine had sprung 
up, on the outskirts of which was a fine spring. 

The weather was excessively warm and sultry, 
especially in this dense growth of pine shrubbery, 
where they pitched their camp. At night the 
Federals, without fear of molestation, disrobed 
down to their shirts, and slept in the uncon- 
sciousness of a child in the nursery. 

At this juncture Captain Louder happened 
along with a company of sixty cavalrymen, on a 
scouting expedition. Several miles away from 
this camp of sylvan ease and security Louder 
met an old farmer whose pantry, hen roost and 
larder had been severely taxed to furnish sup- 
plies to the Federals. The old honest hayseed 
"smole a very large smile" when he met Captain 
Louder. He took the captain to one side, out of 
the hearing of his command, and said : 

"Captain, I have one of the easiest and 
best going things you have come across during 
this whole war, and I want you to take it in." 

Then he gave the captain an accurate and de- 
tailed account of the situation, the status quo, and 
proposed to pilot the expedition to the Federal 
camp after dark. The captain has a supreme 
sense of the ridiculous and enjoys a good thing 
to its full limitations. He withdrew his men to 
a secluded spot to await nightfall and the rising 
of the moon and put a few cautious men out in 
the woods leading to the Federal camp to pre- 



*j6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

vent any communication by which the Federals 
might be apprised of his presence. 

The old farmer remained with him to act as 
guide after the rising of the moon above the tree 
tops. But late in the evening the old farmer was 
sent alone to the vicinity of the camp to see 
whether any changes had been made, and whether 
any suspicion had been aroused and whether any 
pickets were put out. The good old sagacious 
hayseed went right into their camp, made inquiry 
for a stray cow, and asked the favor of a pound 
of coffee, which they granted in all the unsus- 
pecting innocence of a school girl. After the sun 
climbed down the western hills, the farmer rode 
into Louder's camp and reported the layout 
lovely and the enemy without pickets or suspi- 
cion. 

Louder then called his men around him, told 
of the fun in store for them, and that he did not 
want to capture or kill one of them unless it be- 
came necessary to save and protect themselves; 
that he wanted to flush them like a covey of quail 
and run them off in their shirt-tails, which could 
easily be accomplished by charging the camp and 
firing over their heads after they lay down and 
went to sleep. 

The old farmer led them silently to the most 
eligible spot. They charged, fired and raised 
the old rebel war cry — that would on the impulse, 
when awakened from slumber, arouse the fear of 
the devil himself and put him on his pedal re- 
sources. Seventy white flags streamed out from 
the rear guard of seventy warriors, and the pine 
bushes bent to the storm in honor of the cautious 
motto, "Get — you bet," and in honor of the trite 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 77 

old adage, "He that fights and runs away may 
live to fight another day." 

The wildest laugh an army ever heard thrilled 
and trilled through the air. The old farmer 
asked to be dismissed that he might go home and 
tell Betsy the news and hide his trousers, for 
fear the shirt-tail brigade might confiscate them 
in his absence as contraband of war. 

Captain Louder then said : 

"Boys, we will camp here tonight. The fun 
has only begun ; they will not go very far in their 
shirt-tails tonight if not pursued. In the morn- 
ing we will hunt them, drive them on the public 
highway and exhibit them as valiant warriors in 
their white uniforms." 

Next morning scouts were sent in pursuit to 
find them, with directions not to hurt one of 
them, nor to permit them to surrender, and if 
found to hold them until the command came up. 
Forty were found some eight miles from their de- 
serted camp, huddled up in some undergrowth a 
few hundred yards from a public highway, where 
they were waiting for night to cover their retreat 
to Newbern. The absent thirty had scattered 
and pushed forward in various directions, prom- 
ising when they reached their lines at Newbern 
to send a detachment to the rescue. 

Poor fellows ! They earnestly begged the priv- 
ilege of surrendering, but the captain was inexor- 
orable. He told them that he would give them 
better terms than any soldiers had ever obtained 
in the history of warfare; that he had purposely 
refrained from shooting them, and that his heart 
went out to them so much that he would, in con- 
sideration of their delicate situation and evident 



78 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

peaceful intentions, refrain from taking them 
prisoners. 

Louder's explanation to the writer for not 
taking these men prisoners was that he knew the 
war could not be prolonged much longer; that 
he wanted some fun, and had other pressing busi- 
ness and could not take care of them as prisoners. 

He then marched them to the public highway 
leading through a long lane, studded with or- 
chards, gardens and residences on each side. 
Many had rent their scant flags of peace in rush- 
ing through the undergrowth, and with difficulty 
presented an appearance not much improved on 
Adam and Eve's presentation in the Garden of 
Eden. Men, women and children rushed to the 
front gates, but on discovering the situation the 
ladies blushed and rushed back into their dom- 
iciles, believing that the war had exhausted itself 
on the waters of Battle Creek. 

The old farmer was happy in the heirship of 
the captured plunder, and he and his Betsy were 
confident in the belief that all things earthly 
turn out for the best. 



HUNTING WHORTLEBERRIES UNDER 
UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES. 



"Hardtack and sowbelly" were synonyms for 
a surfeited appetite and a tough livelihood on the 
march and around campfires, and that fare was 
by no means always to be had. Parched corn 
was often a great relish for the half famished 
soldier. Hardtack was composed of equal por- 
tions of wheat and pea or bean flour kneaded 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 79 

with water and salt and toughened with indefi- 
nite time, when worms had not first assailed it. 
As a constant diet it is not a very good appetizer. 
Sowbelly, if the reader will pardon the classical 
phrase, was fat salt pork, which from a "good 
old age" had often advanced to a rancid latitude 
and would often "stand off'' a delicate palate. 
Whenever a soldier, from extended acquaintance, 
got tired of this digestive function of the service, 
temptation assailed him through the stomach, 
and he became liable to revolt and break away 
from army regulations to accommodate the tenip- 
tation, whenever opportunity held out an in- 
ducement to risk the consequences. North Caro- 
lina is noted for whortleberry inducements of this 
character, and many a soldier on both sides of the 
line fell into trouble by invading the marshes 
and glens where that fruit flourished in wild 
abundance. And Lieutenant Louder once took it 
into his head that a little of this fruit would en- 
hance his patriotism and improve his appetite for 
war. 

Things were going easy then between the lines, 
and he mounted his horse with holster appendage 
to the saddle, and rode off alone some two miles 
from camp, dismounted and proceeded to the task 
imposed in devouring the fruit. He strolled off 
more than one hundred yards from his horse, 
where he had left his pair of pistols at rest in 
the holster. The land was undulating and the 
shrubbery and foliage dense. Soon he found 
himself at the crest of a gentle elevation of land, 
with the trunk of a large tree lying at right 
angles to his line of approach. Presently he dis- 
covered that he was not the cnly occupant of the 



8o Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

whortleberry thicket. Voices coming from the 
opposite side of the log advised him that at least 
two people of masculine gender and tastes were 
within twenty yards of the ground he coTered. 
Were they Federals or brother Confederates in- 
stantly became a question of vital import. If the 
latter, it was all right. If the former^ the situa- 
tion was anything but pleasant. His guns were 
with his horse; and for aught he knew, both horse 
and guns were already captured. He ^^stooped'' 
without injury to his character. He peered and 
leered to penetrate the intervening foliage, with 
not a little anxiety, to discover who his neigh- 
bors were. He stood as still as a monument until 
his anxiety was rewarded in the discovery that 
two Federal soldiers were enjoying the wild 
fruit. Gradually they passed on a little further 
and gave him an opportunity to slide, or back- 
slide, out of the situation. He walked with the 
stealth and caution of an Indian to his horse 
and mounted before he felt entirely relieved. 

The situation had changed, and the other fel- 
lows must experience a revolution, for there 
was going to be some trouble at least in that 
thicket. If he could only surprise, frighten and 
start them on the run, he could capture both. 
He was like General Forrest, who said to the 
British officer when questioning him about his 
military tactics, "I would not give five minutes 
bulge for a week of tactics." 

Riding slowly until he got within short range 
he spurred his horse and commenced firing and 
yelling like a brigade of devi^r? was at their heels. 
They were surprised, startled and paralyzed with 
fear. They ran a short distance through the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 8i 

bushes, threw down their pistols and surren- 
dered. After Louder took their arms and they 
began to recover their sensos, and asked where 
his men were who had fired and yelled so, he 
answered : 

"I left them in camp, and suppose we will find 
them there before roll call." 

"Did you capture us by yourself?'' they asked. 

When informed that such was the fact, and 
how near they came catching him away from his 
horse and without his arms, one of them cursed 
and swore by all the hobgoblins damned that he 
would rather be shot dead than to be such a 
d d ass, and added: 

"If we had known it was but one man we could 
have dodged behind a tree and shot you as easy 
as falling off a log." 

A soldier's chagrin at such a conquest is great. 
One of these captives was an Englishman who 
had served in the East Indies, and had volun- 
teered in the Federal army. He was an educated 
boxer and expert fencer, and challenged any 
man in the camp to box with him. Several ac- 
commodated him and came to grief. Johnnie 
Bull was vociferous in his own praise and boasted 
that he could knock out any man in the Confed- 
erate army. 

Louder was a powerful man, and was himself 
an expert in the art of boxing and fencing, and 
informed the boasting Johnnie that he perhaps 
overestimated his ability and underestimated 
that of others. 

"Well, I suppose you would like a bit of trial 
yourself?" 



82 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"Yes," said Louder. "You have knocked out 
six ; and if you are still ambitious, you may num- 
ber me as the seventh of your victims." 

At it they went. Louder gave him an awful 
punch on the neck, just under the jaw, which 
laid him out and gave him such a quietus that 
some thought he was dead. 

We must hurry on and pass over an hundred 
thrilling episodes in the heroic life of this 
soldier to the last acts in the drama of war after 
the closing scenes of Appomattox. 

He owned two fine plantations on the Yadkin, 
worked with slaves. He had saw mills, flouring 
mills and every appliance to successfully operate 
this property at the commencement of the war. 
His fine residence overlooked the winding course 
of the river as it flowed through the fertile valley 
which fringed its banks. He did not owe one 
dollar when he grounded arms. When he re- 
turned home he found his mills and plantations 
destroyed and his slaves and stock all gone. His 
wife had passed away, and there was no tomb- 
stone to mark her final resting place. His resi- 
dence alone had escaped the ruin of the vandals. 
Home children still occupied the mansion, but 
were suffering for the necessaries of life. Their 
education for four years had been neglected. He 
had accepted the issue of the war in the utmost 
good faith. His health and energies in the ruin- 
ous conflict had been impaired, but his iron will 
still animated his heroic noture. He went to 
work with the energy, but without the strength 
of youth. He got four mules together to com- 
mence farming. Anarchy and crime still stalked 
abroad in the land. Law and order had not yet 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 83 

resumed peaceful sway. Twenty miles distant a 
thousand Federal soldiers were still on duty. 
Their function was to gather up and dispose of 
stock and property of the government no longer 
of service to the government. A million of sol- 
diers was to be disbanded. No attention was 
given to the title to property. A few southern 
renegades combined with the Federals to take ev- 
erything in sight, and these thieving renegades 
were prowling all over the country, seizing and 
appropriating every mule and horse they could 
find. 

Louder, solitary and alone, resolved to protect 
his rights to property. To avoid collision with 
such superior forces he herded his four mules in 
the timbered valley of the Yadkin river, but the 
thieves found them whilst he was in the role of 
shepherd guard over them. The residence and 
land alone were left. A thousand hallowed as- 
sociations and memories still clustered there. It 
was a mournful nucleus for rebuilding and re- 
storing departed plenty. It was the only ambi- 
tion which survived the wreck and devastation 
of war, and to that he clung with deathlike 
tenacity. 

He warned the thieves to let his stock alone, 
at the peril of their lives. Four of them had just 
crossed over the Yadkin with arms to intimidate 
and halters to attach to the mules. They derided 
the warning. Louder stood off one hundred and 
seventy-five yards with his long range gun. One 
of the four vandals had on a white paper collar — 
a good mark to sight at. The other three thieves 
were chasing the mules. That long range gun, 
which had done execution on many fields, rang 



84 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

out over the air and echoed against the opposite 
shore of the Yadkin, and there was but three 
thieves left, for one lay dead v,dth a broken neck 
at the foot of a walnut tree. Another peal from 
the long range weapon of death handed another 
over the river Styx, and the two surviving com- 
rades took shelter under the banks of the stream. 
The mules still browsed on the green. 

It was five miles up the river to the next ferry. 
Louder knew that the escaped thieves would go 
in that direction for reinforcements and return 
to destroy his residence. He hurried back to 
send his children away from the impending dan- 
ger and to fortify himself in a kiln for drying 
fruit, which stood at the distance of fifty yards 
from his house. Three guns and two pistols 
were stored in that tragic arsenal. 

Two hours had not elapsed from the killing of 
the two until a squad of twenty-five marched up 
to the door of his deserted residence. In two 
minutes he killed six more of the vandals wearing 
the Federal uniform. The remainder escaped 
without standing on the order of their going. 
They passed some citizens near by on the high- 
way and said they would soon return with a 
twelve pound cannon and destroy the residence, 
which was a two story brick. Whilst they were 
gone after the gun and more recruits, one hun- 
dred citizens gathered in the yard where the 
dead lay. Within the space of two hours one 
resolute man of iron nerve had killed eight and 
put twenty to flight, and still resolutely held his 
ground. 

The defeated freebooters within the space of 
two hours returned with a twelve-pound cannon 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 85 

and sixty men and trained it on the house. By 
this time John Miller, a citizen of the vicinity, 
arrived. He was a strong personal friend to 
Louder. Louder plainly saw that alone he could 
no longer resist such a force successfully, and 
he sent Miller with a white flag to the enemy, 
with the following message to them: 

"You can batter down my house, take my 
stock, reduce my family to starvation and desti- 
tution. But if you do it, as sure as there is a 
God in heaven, I will ambush and waylay you 
and kill you in detachments ns long as I can load 
a gun and pull a trigger. You ought to be con- 
vinced from today's proceedings what I can do 
and will do if your hands are longer lifted 
against me and mine. But If you stop in good 
faith, and let my property Kud family alone, I 
will leave the country as long as you all observe 
the treaty. I want an answer within thirty min- 
utes. The choice is with you." 

Miller delivered the message and added what- 
ever his own good judgment suggested. Among 
other things he told them that Louder had been 
universally esteemed as one of the best citizens 
of the country, and had certainly been one of the 
best soldiers in the army. That he was a man 
of iron nerve and purpose, combined with the 
soundest judgment. 

If you render him desperate by destroying 
his property and making his children paupers, he 
will kill as many men as are in your ranks here. 
In the end you will jeopardize your own lives and 
interests far more than you will his." 

After parleying a short time and consulting 
with their leader the latter ?aid: 



86 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"D d if I don't believe he means he what he 

says. We accept his proposition, that we will 
only go into his premises to bury the dead lying 
in his yard.'' 

They dug a pit and threw the bodies in, cov- 
ered them up, and left the premises. Louder put 
a son-in-law in charge and left the country next 
day. He came to White county, Arkansas, where 
he resided until a few months before his death 
at the Confederate Home n-ear Little Rock. 

He was a man of unblemished character and 
integrity. Valor, combined with clear insight, 
quick perception and prompt action, made him a 
remarkable soldier. Had our leaders possessed 
that profound penetration of character by which 
Bonaparte was guided in the selection of leaders, 
in every department of his army and civil ad- 
ministration, much greater achievements would 
have been accomplished. 

As an illustration of the emperor's profound 
sagacity, at the siege of Toulon, when he was 
but a captain of artillery, he called for an orderly 
in the midst of rapid cannonading, and dictated 
an order. Young Junot stepped forward, leaned 
on the breastworks, and wrote the order as dic- 
tated. Just as he finished writing a cannon ball 
plowed up the earth under their feet and covered 
the paper with dirt. With a smile on his face 
as he handed the paper to the captain, he said, "I 
shall have no need of sand." 

Bonaparte remembered him when he ascended 
the throne and rapidly promoted the cool ser- 
geant at Toulon until Junot became a marshal 
decorated with the Legion of Honor. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 87 

Had men like Louder and Forrest been put 
forward in every arm of the service, the coming 
historian would have a far brighter page to re- 
cord. 

Captain Louder was one of nature's noblemen. 
A few hours after relating this story to the 
writer, and a few minutes after a pleasant con- 
versation, he stepped into his room, laid down 
and died in a minute. His remains rest in the 
Confederate graveyard near Little Rock, where 
hundreds of heroes lie awaiting the resurrection. 



BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE, OR ELKHORN 
TAVERN. 



The Confederates had in this action fourteen 
thousand men under the command of Major Gen- 
eral Earl Van Dorn. Of this number Major Gen- 
eral Sterling Price had an independent command 
of six thousand eight hundred and eighteen Mis- 
souri state troops, which was not at that time 
subject to the orders of the Confederate author- 
ities, as some writers have erroneously stated. 
But General Price, recognizing the all important 
fact that divided authority in the conduct of 
great battles is an element of weakness and dis- 
aster, rose above all personal considerations for 
the aggrandizement of his own renown and gen- 
erously gave the supreme command to General 
Van Dorn, which, to say the least, proved un- 
fortunate. Price being the greater general. In 
the interest of history, sentiment and erroneous 
ideas of criticism must give way in subordination 
to higher duties. 



88 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch com- 
manded one wing of the army, and General Price 
the other. The former had seven thousand one 
hundred and eighty-two men, and General Price 
had eight batteries of field artillery. The reports 
do not show clearly how many batteries General 
McCulloch had. Price had obout two thousand 
cavalry, and his Missouri troops were as brave 
and intrepid as those under Bonaparte in the 
days of the consulate and empire, and the same 
may be said equally of the Texas and Arkansas 
troops under McCulloch. 

The cavalry troops under McCulloch w^ere 
under the command of General Mcintosh. Gen- 
eral Albert Pike commanded about one thousand 
Indians, but it appears from his report of the 
battle that the Indians were of little or no service 
in that battle. He says when artillery opened 
on his command the Indians fled to the woods 
for shelter; and, further, that he had requested 
those in command over him not to order or place 
them in reach of cannon shot or shell. This fact 
appears in the war records. The Indians at that 
early period of the war were as afraid of "wagon 
guns" as the devil is reported to be of holy water. 

General Pike and others complained of the 
great difficulty couriers and aides had in finding 
General Van Dorn's headquarters, which some 
state was three miles from the battlefield, and 
that some couriers failed altogether to find him 
at important junctures of the battle. 

General McCulloch was killed at an early 
stage of the battle. The command of his wing 
then devolved on General Mcintosh, who was 
also killed a very short time after assuming com- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 89 

mand. At this important crisis of a great battle, 
it was hours before it was known on whom the 
command of this wing devolved. Couriers failed 
to find General Van Dorn at this momentous 
crisis, and it was about two hours before it was 
ascertained that after General Mcintosh's death 
the command of seven thousand men of that wing 
seemed to devolve on Colonel E. Greer, of Texas. 
Whole regiments of this wing were brought dur- 
ing this imperative crisis to a standstill for want 
of orders, when General Van Dorn could not be 
found. These facts appear in a general way 
from official reports of the battle. 

McCulloch's division or wing was opposed by 
General Franz Seigle. Price's wing was opposed 
by General Curtis, the commander in chief of the 
Federals, who had in action on that day of errors 
and misfortune about fourteen thousand men — 
about an equal number with the Confederates. 

Curtis and Price commanded opposing divi- 
sions. Curtis was entrenched in the breastworks 
around Elkhorn Tavern, from which Price drove 
him continuously during the battle to a distance 
of about three miles. 

The country where the battle was fought is 
very hilly and uneven, and consequently was ill 
adapted to the operation of the cavalry arm of 
the service, which did not figure much in that 
battle. 

Private John Hoffman, of the Fourteenth Ark- 
ansas infantry, an intelligent soldier of the old 
army of the United States, states to the writer 
that General Seigle's division of the Federal 
army appeared to be as much demoralized as the 
Con federates were after the death of Generals Mc- 



go Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Culloch and Mcintosh. That during this confu- 
sion for want of orders, firing ceased on the part 
of the line held by the Fourteenth Arkansas, and 
that Seigle's division, at the moment this confu- 
sion began, hoisted the white flag in token of sur- 
render when the Confederates were waiting for 
orders. But that Seigle, seeing the confusion 
prevailing on the Confederate line, took down 
the white flag and made a vigorous and success- 
ful assault on the Confederate lines, and drove 
them back, at which time General Van Dorn 
gave the order to retreat. Hoffman, then a pri- 
vate, at the reorganization of the regiment was 
promoted to the office of lieutenant for efficiency 
and gallantry, and now resides at Selma, Cali- 
fornia. 

The Missourians were successful throughout 
the battle, and when the order came to retreat 
General Price protested and pleaded for permis- 
sion to continue the battle, and retreated weep- 
ing over the calamity which forced brave vic- 
torious soldiers to retreat and turn victory into 
defeat. If General Van Dorn had been at the 
right place, with the ability his high commis- 
sion implied, and energy to meet the emergencies, 
there can be but little doubt that victory would 
have crowned the Confederate arms that day. 

John Hoffman and another comrade on that 
day tells a sorrowful and ludicrous story of their 
colonel. A small man on a large horse, who 
wheeled at the first fire on the regiment, ordered 
the men to open the line and let him through, 
because his horse was too fiery to stand it. The 
line was opened, and the colonel never again ap- 
peared with his fiery horse to lead the regiment. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 91 

Hoffman says that the coloneFs eyes were en- 
larged and extended so much that a lariat could 
have been thrown over them. The horse caused 
this — the whistling bullets from the enemy had 
nothing to do in causing the colonel's excitement 
and failure to return to his command. 



CAPTUKE OF A TRADING STEAMER ON 
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



Wilson Sawyer, a pupil of the writer in ante- 
bellum days, tells the following history of the 
capture of a trading steamer on the Mississippi 
river. He was a private in Captain John Fara- 
bee's battalion of cavalry, of Colonel Richard- 
son's command ; sometimes acting independently, 
at others under Generals Van Dorn and Forrest. 

In April, 1864, Captain Farabee with a small 
detachment of twenty men, including Sawyer, 
was sent by Colonel Richardson on a scouting 
expedition along the east bank of the Mississippi 
river, between Randolph and Memphis, the two 
points being sixty miles apart as the river runs. 

The point which now claims attention is at a 
bluff or rather high bank of the river, several 
miles below the high bluffs on which the ancient 
village of Randolph is located. Federal gunboats 
patroled the river from Cairo to New Orleans, 
and the numerous rivers tributary to it, to pro- 
tect the commerce which floated on its turbid 
waters. These formidable gunboats, most of 
them iron clad, when not ascending or descend- 
ing, always anchored near vulnerable points and 
constantly kept up steam to be ready to move 



92 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

at a moment's warning. On this occasion two of 
these formidable commercial convoys lay at 
anchor in a bend of the river above the bluff, 
where the capture was planned. Dense volumes 
of smoke from the boats rose above the trees and 
rolled away into the clouds above. Late one 
evening an old farmer, too old for military ser- 
vice, came to the squad of scouts and told them 
that if he was captain of that squad he would 
be master of rich booty in less than twenty-four 
hours. 

"How is that?'' asked Captain Farabee. 

"Well, you see ; it's this way, captain," said the 
old patriot. "I was up about those gunboats, 
making some purchases from a trading boat ly- 
ing there for protection, and I was a little in- 
quisitive, and in my unsophisticated way ascer- 
tained that the trading boat would descend the 
river early tomorrow morning, and I think with- 
out the company of the iron clads. Now, boys; 
jou see I live here on the bank of the river, and 
I know every foot of the channel in these parts. 
At the present stage of the river the current of 
the channel breaks away from the sandbar two 
miles above on the Arkansas side and sets in 
strongly for this bluff. Boats descending at this 
«tage of the river are swept very near the bluff, 
and it takes a good pilot to keep them from jam- 
ming right into it." 

Captain Farabee said to the old man ; 

"You appear to be possessed of good sound 
practical judgment, and to be familiar with the 
facts on which you base conclusions. If you will 
aid me I will make you second in command of 
this squad, and will act on your advice in making 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 95 

the effort to capture the boat. And if we make a 
success of the enterprise, you can obtain supplies 
on a much cheaper basis than you did this even- 
ing on board the steamer." 

^^I don't ask anything cheaper and better than 
that, captain. Now let us go and prepare at 
once. But keep in mind, captain, that the first 
thing to be done when the boat comes within 
reach of your guns is to kill or disable the 
pilot at the wheel and keep the pilot house 
empty ; and probably that is all the shooting we 
will have to do. There are fifteen or twenty la- 
dies aboard the boat, and some gentlemen pas- 
sengers. You must promise me that you will not 
burn the boat and distress those ladies, nor mo- 
lest or harm the passengers and crew, unless it 
should become absolutely necessary for your own 
protection. I have witnessed so much distress 
needlessly inflicted, that I will never be instru- 
mental in such things. As for the pilot, he knew 
the risks he was incurring when he stepped on 
that boat to navigate her." 

Captain Farabee was an educated and refined 
gentleman, and was long the personal friend of 
the writer after we assumed the toga viralis 
of budding manhood. He readily assented to the 
conditions imposed by the old farmer. 

They then went to the designated point on the 
river, rolled up logs and placed obstructions to 
cut off the view from the approaching boat, and 
before the dawn of light the next morning took 
their positions to await the approach of the 
steamer. At the rising of the sun they saw the 
smoke from the steamer curling over the tree 
tops as she advanced around the bend and in the 



94 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

channel as indicated by the old farmer. Ten of 
the best shots, at the word of command, were 
fired at the pilot and he fell dead. The other ten 
shots were held in reserve for any emergency 
that might arise. No one took the place of the 
dead pilot, and the boat, prow foremost, touched 
the bank just as the old farmer said it would. The 
squad jumped aboard and immediately run out 
the cable and made fast to the shore amidst the 
wildest confusion and screaming of the ladies 
aboard. But they soon quieted down after being 
assured by Captain Farabee that no possible 
harm would befall them. The captors secured 
1100,000, of which a large part was in gold, and 
the remainder in United States currency. 

Sawyer says that he was young and much in- 
clined to modesty and only put three twenty 
dollar gold pieces in his pocket; and that he 
turned that over to himself, feeling that he 
could place it where it would do him the most 
good, and that he was a safer custodian than 
Colonel Richardson. He still insists that his judg- 
ment was correct, and cites the fact that Colonel 
Richardson after the Avar became a financier and 
banker in the city of New York, a position for 
which Confederate currency was not regarded as 
solvent banking capital. 

After helping themselves to as much commis- 
sary and quartermaster supplies as they wanted, 
they set the boat adrift. It floated sidewise and 
stuck on a sandbar below on the opposite side of 
the river. By this time the gunboats were com- 
ing under a heavy pressure of steam to the rescue. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 95 



STORY OF THE NORTH ARKANSAS 
OUTLAWS. 



John Hoffman and J. M. Robinson, of the 
Fourteenth Arkansas Confederate infantry, re- 
late the following facts. 

There were dark days and darker morrows in 
Arkansas in 1863-64, during that reign of terror, 
anarchy and crime, when the protection of the 
law, consequent on the civil war, was in abey- 
ance. All the northern and adjacent counties in 
Arkansas were for a long time dominated and 
overrun by thieves and freebooters and land 
pirates, calling themselves, as best suited their 
purposes. Confederates and Federals. When 
they raided and robbed the families of Confed- 
erates they were ostensibly in the Federal ser- 
vice, and vice versa, when they robbed a family 
or citizen of Union sentiments — always claiming 
to act under the authority of one of these mili- 
tary organizations. 

The inhabitants of these counties were divided 
in sentiment as between the Federal and Confed- 
erate States, and nearly all the men of stamina 
and worth had joined the armies of their choice, 
leaving the country in possession of their wives, 
children and old men and young boys unfit for 
military service. 

The country thus stripped of its able bodied 
men became apparently an easy prey to combina- 
tions which acted for lucre at the instigation of 
the devil and without the fear of God. These 
combinations of devils were numerous in the 



9^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

territory named, but it is only three gangs of 
outlaws with which we deal in this chapter. 

At the commencement of the war William 
Dark, of Searcy county, Arkansas, was a felon 
undergoing servitude in the penitentiary of the 
state, and was released on condition that he join 
the Confederate army, which he did ; but after a 
short service in that army he deserted, went back 
to his home and congregated a gang of thieves 
and outlaws to prey on the non-combatant, de- 
fenseless people. This gang claimed and exer- 
cised absolute jurisdiction over every species of 
property they desired — horses, cows, sheep, mules, 
fowls, provisions — and in a great number of in- 
stances appropriated the last article of clothing 
belonging to helpless women and children. Many 
wagons were loaded with plunder. The gang, 
headed and ruled by Dark, became the synonym 
of all that is degraded and abandoned in man- 
kind, and abject submission to his demands was 
the only security to life. His very name struck 
terror to the hearts of women and children and 
old defenseless men who were unable to pass be- 
yond the sphere of his operations. 

At that period the feelings of neighboring 
Unionists and Confederates were crystalized in 
intensity against each other — all the harder to 
soothe and remove for want of that liberal foun- 
dation in deep and broad education enjoyed by 
more favored communities. But there was a 
community of interest; both sides to the war 
were equal sufferers. A few old conservative 
men representing both elements got together, and 
each side agreed to raise a company to exterm- 
inate the marauders, if possible, in the joint in- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 97 

terest of both elements. And they did ; each keep- 
ing their covenant by raising a company of home 
guards, or regulators. 

At that time the three leaders of separate 
bands were operating in Searcy, Baxter, Marion 
and adjacent counties. For some weeks after the 
regulators organized. Dark foiled their efforts to 
captur- ad dispose of him, and continued his 
depredations in defiance of the organization. He 
discredited their ability and courage. Whilst 
matters thus stood, two Confederate soldiers, on 
furlough from the regular Confederate army, vis- 
ited their families in Searcy county, and on the 
day of the tragedy following were together with 
their wives and children at one of their resi- 
dences. On this day little Master Berry, whose 
full name has escaped memory, who was ten or 
eleven years old, came to see his friends from the 
army and to learn of other Confederate soldiers 
from the vicinage, some of whom were related 
to him. 

But first let it be remembered that the world 
now and then presents mankind with a hero boy 
from the lap of obscurity worthy of royal lineage 
and a niche in the pantheon of fame. Whilst the 
two Confederate soldiers were conversing with 
their wives and Master Berry, one of the matrons 
stepped to the door to watch like a vidette or 
picket on duty guarding an army. In terror and 
dismay she discovered Dark with five of his gang 
on horseback approaching the house, with Dark 
fifty yards in advance of his associates in crime. 
Terror stricken, she turned pale as death as she 
announced their rapid approach on evil bent. 
The two Confederate soldiers made their exit at 



98 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the back door and ran like quarter horses 
through a cornfield to the timber. One of them 
in his paralysis of fear forgot his army pistol. 
The little boy Berry seized the pistol and said, 
"Ladies, I will defend you," and quicker than 
this sentence can be read rushed out in the yard 
and took position at the corner of the smoke- 
house, next the road, and rested the pistol on 
one of the projecting logs. 

By this time Dark was within twenty feet of 
the lad, staring him in the face, with the ejacula- 
tion, "What are you doing there, you little 
puppy?" The boy was drawing a bead on him 
as cooly as if aiming at a mark ; scarcely was the 
sentence out before he fired. The ball struck its 
object in the center betAveen the eyes and made 
exit at the rear of the cranium. He fell forward 
dead. The boy said, "A center shot, ladies ; bless 
the Lord," and in an instant was emptying the 
remaining five shots at the other thieving ma- 
rauders, who put spurs to their horses and dis- 
appeared rapidly. 

xVfter a while the flying husbands came back 
and found young Berry master of the situation. 
What shame must have mantled their cheeks! 
With the heart of a lion and the courage of Ajax, 
that boy 

"Would not bow to Jove for his thunder, nor kneel to Nep- 
tune for his trident." 

His deed of cool and unsurpassed heroism 
ought to be preserved fresh and green in the 
memory of a grateful people as long as our liter- 
ature adorns our civilization. 

The citizens of the vicinage raised |500 and 
presented it to the noble boy. He grew to hon- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 99 

ored manhood and became a noble citizen. The 
old Confederate veterans, Hoffman and Robin- 
son, were citizens, the one of Baxter, the other of 
Searcy county at the time, and this story is based 
on their verification of the facts related by them. 

There is yet another exciting scene to relate 
before the curtain closes over this tragedy, pre- 
senting woman of exalted courage and iron 
nerve, successfully riding the storm of misfor- 
tune like an eagle cleaving the clouds. 

It is the misfortune of many noble women to 
become the wives of degraded men. It was sup- 
posed that Dark had confided the custody of the 
money he had taken from the citizens to his wife, 
and that by searching his house it might be found 
and recovered, but they did not immediately af- 
ter his death carry their intentions into execu- 
tion. 

Dark's wife got wind of their intentions before 
they came. She immediately saddled and 
mounted a swift mule, took her child in her lap 
and rode night and day as fast as the animal 
could travel, more than one hundred miles, 
striking the Arkansas river at a point near Van 
Buren, where there was no ferry. Undaunted, 
the heroine plunged into the flood, and the faith- 
ful mule with her and child stemmed the roaring 
tide and landed them safely on the opposite 
shore, where she experienced the first feeling of 
relief and safety. 

Caledonia's immortal bard in "The Cotter's 
Saturday Night," says: 

"From such scenes as these Old Scotia's grandeur rises." 

Paraphrased, it applies with equal force and 
beauty to our noble southern women. 



loo Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

During this period of anarchy and brigandage, 
not one of the two northern tier of counties in 
Arkansas escaped the depredations and shocking 
brutalities committed by these roving bands of 
outlaws, who took advantage of the defenseless 
condition of the country in the absence of hus- 
bands and sons, who constituted the true defend- 
ers of their homes. 

But the regulators now and then brought 
many of them to grief. John Hoffman and J. 
M. Robinson, of the Fourteenth Arkansas infan- 
try, gave the facts on which this and the preced- 
ing chapters are founded. 

After the death of William Dark, his band dis- 
persed, some leaving the country; others united 
with other bodies of brigands. 

At this time an artful scoundrel residing in 
Searcy county professed to be an ardent Con- 
federate and champion of the cause, and raised 
a company of young men under the assumption 
that they were to be incorporated in the regular 
Confederate service. Under this assurance the 
parents and guardians of these young men did 
not oppose serious objection to their becoming 
honorable soldiers. By this deceptive art he 
raised a company of about fifty, in which there 
were but few men of mature age. 

After Captain Cochrane, as he styled himself, 
completed the quantum of men he wanted he 
commenced by artful address and influences to 
seduce them to the standard of brigandage. This 
accomplished, he commenced, to the sorrow and 
amazement of the peaceful population, a system 
of brigandage surpassing in horror and depravity 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. loi 

anything in the history of Italian and Turkish 
brigandage, in all things excepting murder. 

To break up this band of pillagers on a large 
scale was one of the chief objects of the Union 
and Confederate regulators. 

By way of preface to a mournful tragedy we 
crave indulgence to state that there was at that 
time an old Baptist preacher, long a citizen of 
Searcy county, who was universally esteemed for 
his piety and consistent following of the gentle 
Nazarene, more by the example of his practical 
Christianity than brilliant display in the pulpit. 
He had a young son who was the object of a thou- 
sand prayers to the throne for divine benedic- 
tions on his life. This old man of God, who had 
spent the morning, the zenith and the nadir of 
his life going about doing good to his fellow 
mortals, embraced the conscientious conviction 
in those troublous times that the Confederate 
cause was just. From this standpoint he made 
no objection to the son of many prayers uniting 
himself to Captain Cochrane's command. 

After the pillaging designs of Cochrane be- 
came fully established, the old preacher and his 
aged wife went to their wayward son in tears of 
grief and fervent prayers of sorrow, beseeching 
him to abandon the ways of sin that led to death 
and an immortality of suffering and sorrow. But 
the son had become infatuated with his life of 
degradation and shame and insulted the gray 
hairs of his parents in blasphemous repulse. 

Soon after Dark's death the regulators cap- 
tured Captain Cochrane with thirteen of his men, 
including the son of the old preacher, near Buf- 



I02 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

falo City, then a part of Searcy county, but since 
attached to Marion county. 

The regulators took their fourteen captives to 
a deep ravine about two miles from Buffalo City, 
across which a long pine tree had fallen, from 
the body of which they hanged them. 

The good old preacher arrived at the scene of 
execution before the bodies were cut down, in- 
tending to claim the body of his son for Christian 
burial. Burning tears crept down his furrowed 
cheek, a volcano swept through his heart, a 
cyclone of sorrow through his brain, whilst he 
uttered a prayer as fervent as that of the Savior 
in the Garden of Gethsemane before expiring on 
the cross of calvary. The hearts of the execu- 
tioners were drowned in a flood of sorrow for the 
living father, but the relentless hand of fate had 
done its work on earth and handed it over the 
dark river to the immortal tribunal where God 
and his jury of ministering angels compass the 
final scene in robes of justice. 

After partially recovering from the storm that 
swept his frame, the old father struggled with a 
wilderness of doubt as to his duty in disposing 
of the body, whether he would be justified in giv- 
ing it a Christian burial, or submitting it to the 
trench with the bodies of the other malefactors. 

Finally he arrived at the conclusion that it 
would be a solemn mockery of Christianity to 
surround such a burial with a halo of purity 
and innocence, and with the nerve of a Roman 
of the iron age said to the executioners, "His 
death is justified in the sight of God and man; 
throw his dishonored body in the trench with his 
comrades in crime.^' 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 103 

Not long atfer this the regulators at different 
times and places captured thirteen more of Coch- 
rane's men and hanged them, making in all a 
total of twenty-seven of this gang disposed of. 
The remainder dispersed and fled the country. 

There was still another band of brigands op- 
erating on the same lines in the same territory 
under one Mark Cockram (observe the differ- 
ence in the similar names), but before the regu- 
lators had time to turn their attention to them 
Captain George Rutherford, of the regular Con- 
federate army, with his company of mounted 
men, was detailed to look after the brigands in 
northern Arkansas. Rutherford was a discreet 
and able captain. He bided his chance to strike 
like the eagle and conquer. 

Cockram claimed to be a captain in the Fed- 
eral army, but brigandage was his standard of 
invasion, and booty the reward of his campaigns 
against women and children and non-combatant 
old men. Rutherford's reconnoitering parties 
soon got on the trail of Cockram, and discovered 
that his line of march with a train of booty led 
between a precipitous bluff overhanging White 
river, and that stream, the valley between the 
bluff and stream being quite narrow. 

Rutherford divided his company into two 
squadrons, sent one to the upper terminus of the 
bluff, the other to the rear of the enemy, and as 
soon as the brigands advanced within the walls 
and shadows of the bluff charged and drove them 
in confusion and dismay on the front squadron. 
Cockram distanced his followers in speed, with- 
out knowing the death into which he was rushing 
in front, where he was killed. 



I04 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Between fire in front and rear, with the bluff 
on one side and the river on the other, there was 
no avenue of escape, save to plunge in the river, 
which they did, and many were drowned in the 
•stream. Thirteen were killed. The Confeder- 
ates did not lose a man. 



THE PARTING OP THE WAYS. 



John Nevill, an intelligent, brave and reliable 
Confederate soldier and scout, gave the writer the 
facts related in this chapter. 

Martin D. Hart at the commencement of hos- 
tilities resided at Greenville, Texas, and was 
much respected for his talents as a lawyer, and 
was regarded as a good citizen. At the same bar 
R. P. Crump stood equally high as a lawyer and 
citizen of irreproachable character. It was then 
understood that both adhered to the south; and 
Crump did not deceive expectations, but enlisted 
in the Confederate army and rose to the rank of 
colonel of a Texas regiment. After the com- 
mencement of hostilities Hart disappeared, and 
no one knew whence he had gone, or what led 
to his departure. 

But subsequent events proved that he went 
north, took the oath of allegiance, and came back 
into western Arkansas with the oath of alleg- 
iance in his pocket and authority to recruit a 
company for the Federal service. He gathered 
twenty outlaws around him, one of whom he 
designated as Lieutenant Hays, who was his 
chief henchman in the commission of every crime 
known to the anarchy of that period and locality. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 105 

Colonel Rosa De Carrol, who lived in that zone 
of crime, had valiantly commanded a regiment 
of Arkansas cavalry at Wilson's creek, or Oak 
Hills, as interchangeably called. He was a very 
old and corpulent gentleman of the highest 
standing, but his age and unwieldly weight dis- 
qualified him for either the cavalry or infantry 
arm of the service, and he reluctantly resigned 
his commission, after serving one year in the 
state troops with distinguished honor, and re- 
tired to his farm to spend his declining years in 
peace with his family and fellowman. In mid- 
winter he was called to his door in open day and 
shot to death in the presence of his family, with- 
out any cause whatever being assigned, by Mar- 
tin D. Hart and his followers. The same squad 
of outlaws went to the residence of another old 
and prominent citizen of irreproachable char- 
acter. Colonel Richardson, who was a non-com- 
batant, but a patriotic believer in the cause of 
the south, and he was called to the door of his 
dwelling and shot to death in the presence of his 
family, whilst his daughter was clinging to his 
neck and begging for his life. It is not necessary 
to mention a great number of other crimes com- 
mitted by that band of outlaws. 

Colonel R. P. Crump, perhaps better known as 
Philip Crump, was detailed from the Fort Smith 
encampment of Confederates with a detachment 
of soldiers to look after his former friend and 
brother member of the Greenville bar. Hart had 
successfully eluded many squads on his trail, 
until he embraced the conviction that his man- 
agement and generalship was so far above the 
average that his final capture was at least a re- 



io6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

mote contingency. He pitched his camps in un- 
frequented places, and changed them so often 
it was difficult to catch up with him. From sub- 
sequent developments it appears that he was 
aware that Colonel Crump was after him, and 
said on the scaffold, "I thought I was a better 
general that Colonel Crump, but deceived my- 
self.'^ 

One dark dreary evening in February, 1863, 
when the snow was falling fast. Colonel Crump 
got on his trail, and put out a few active and re- 
liable men to watch at a distance and ascertain 
where Hart took refuge from the snow storm 
that night. When the scouts returned they re- 
ported that the outlaws had taken shelter in an 
old abandoned mill house. Colonel Crump, after 
getting within striking distance, dismounted his 
men and surrounded them before they were aware 
of his presence. The squad of twenty surren- 
dered without attempting resistance, and all ex- 
cept one were marched to Fort Smith. This one 
for some unknown cause refused to march to 
Fort Smith and was left lifeless in the cold em- 
braces of the snow. A court martial was regu- 
larly organized to try the bandits, and on the 
clearest proofs Martin D. Hart and his lieuten- 
ant. Hays, were condemned to be shot. Why 
their other seventeen comrades were not con- 
demned and executed does not at this day suffi- 
ciently appear, but they were held as prisoners 
of war. 

Hart realized from the first that his fate was 
sealed and looked on the proceedings of the court 
with stolid indifference. The proof of his crime 
was incontestible. Hays at times tried to as- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 107 

sume an air of indifference. When they were 
driven to the place of execution, sitting on their 
rude coffins, they were halted under the limb of 
a tree in the suburbs of Fort Smith. Young 
Carrol and young Richardson, sons of the citi- 
zens assassinated, were present. One adjusted 
the ropes to the necks of the criminals and the 
other climbed the tree and adjusted the ropes to 
the limb. Hart did not wait for the wagon to be 
driven from under him, but jumped off, and was 
soon in the grasp of death. Hays began to sum- 
marize the shadows of life, and said, "Out off in 
the bloom of youth'' — but the wagon was drawn 
from under and he was strangled before ending 
the sentence. Years after the conclusion of 
peace, a party of negroes, with a band of music, 
dug up the remains of these criminals and 
marched through the streets to the national 
graveyard and there reinterred the remains. 

John Nevill, then a young man in the Oonfed- 
erate service, was present at the trial and exe- 
cution, and gave the writer the facts here stated. 
He is perfectly reliable for strict adherence to 
truth, and in all cases without the slightest color- 
ing of romance. He is the same gentleman hon- 
orably mentioned in several other chapters in 
this volume. 



THE FATE OF A SOUTHERN SPY FOR 
NORTHERN ARMIES. 



A. C. Richardson, of the Third Texas cavalry, 
tells the following winding up of the life of Wil- 
liam Buck, a citizen of Lexington, Miss. 



io8 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

During the joint occupation of parts of Mis- 
sissippi in 1863 by both armies, William Buck 
sold himself to General McPherson, of the Fed- 
eral army, as a spy against his own people. Sus- 
picion rested on him and his wife for months be- 
fore final action was taken. He was accorded 
the benefit of every reasonable doubt for months. 
Finally General Ross ordered his arrest and an 
investigation. When arrested, evidence of his 
calling was found on his person, in the shape of 
writings and letters from Major General Mc- 
Pherson. He was tried by a duly constituted 
court martial and found guilty of being a Fed- 
eral spy, and was hanged for the crime. 

These spies were numerous in both Confed- 
erate and the Federal armies, and many exer- 
cised much ingenuity in avoiding discovery and 
the death penalty. A Confederate soldier in an 
Alabama regiment tells the following curious 
makeup of an ingenious woman, who traveled 
with him from Knoxville, Tenn., to a point in 
Alabama, when he was a very sick soldier going 
home on furlough. 

This young woman wore a sword, with pistol, 
belted on her person, and the insignia of a cap- 
tain in the Confederate service. She was hand- 
some, young, sprightly and well informed as to 
army movements. She represented herself as 
captain of a Confederate company from Louisi- 
ana, and her husband as first lieutenant of her 
company, then in the army of Virginia, and she 
successfully imposed herself as such on all with 
whom she came in contact. The soldier being a 
very sick man, she reposed his head in her lap 
during the journey; and when he became too 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 109 

sick to travel, she had him taken to a hotel, where 
she nursed him for several days, and then left 
him in the firm belief that she was patriotically 
acting the character she appeared in. 



THE DARING CAPTAIN E. C. ARNOLD. 



Captain Arnold was a very small man, of iron 
will and dauntless courage. His home was in 
the vicinity of Monroe, Ga., four miles distant. 
A short time before the occupation of that town 
by the Federals, in 1864, Captain Arnold went 
home on sick furlough, and was there when the 
Federal troops occupied the town. 

In many communities there were whites of 
low degree who kneeled like spaniels, that secur- 
ity and thrift might follow dastardly fawning. 
These characters were always the first to enter 
the Federal camps when in force they occupied 
for any length of time any locality. The negroes 
were always news carriers and informers, as well 
as white men of low degree. These characters, 
both white and black, indulged in exaggerations, 
and when they entertained enmity against any 
one they became an object of slander and perse- 
cution. Captain Arnold at once became a con- 
spicuous object for the shafts of that class, who 
succeeded in convincing the officers and soldiers 
at Monroe that he was a desperado, and a price 
was set on his capture or life. Arnold was held 
in high esteem in the Confederate army, and by 
all the better class of people wherever known, 
and his courage and manhood justified that 
esteem. His capture and execution became an 



I lo Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

object of intense desire and many squads of Fed- 
eral soldiers scoured the surrounding country 
searching for him. Before the detachments of 
Federal soldiers reached his residence, where he 
was in a state of convalescence but able to take 
the saddle, he was informed of the movements 
and intentions of the enemy. 

"To be forewarned is to be forearmed," and 
Captain Arnold, solitary and alone, took to the 
field around his native heath for his own security 
and protection. A more fearless man never 
lived. The physical conformation of the coun- 
try, streams and forests in that locality, favored 
the solitary soldier who was being hounded by a 
regiment of enemies who had publicly declared 
their intention to take his life. Several squads 
were sent in search of him, and returned with 
one less than they started with. Troopers 
scoured the country for many miles around, but 
instead of finding and executing him they fur- 
nished all the funeral material. 

A small river ran within one mile of Monroe, 
spanned by a bridge, between which and the 
town was a hill overlooking the town where the 
Federal troops were encamped. A public high- 
way extended from the town to and beyond the 
bridge. One day Captain Arnold concluded that 
he would reconnoitre the town, and advanced 
along the public highway to the crest of the hill 
overlooking it, and there met a Federal soldier, 
who halted and asked him if he knew where that 

d n notorious Arnold could be found, and 

said that he was hunting him to kill him. Arnold 
replied that he had seen him just across the river 
an hour ago, and in an instant the trooper fell 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 1 1 1 

dead from his horse, a very fine animal, which 
he took to a farmer some miles away to keep 
until he called for it. This happened in sight 
of the Federal camp. 

Arnold survived the war many years, and was 
a useful and honored citizen. 



AS SEEN BY A. C. RICHARDSON. 



Richardson was born in Wilton county, Ga., 
December 15, 1838, and was well educated, and 
before he enlisted in the Confederate service had 
graduated in the frontier life of Texas and the 
Rocky mountains. The regiment was organized 
at Dallas, Texas, in June, 1861. Major Earl 
Van Dorn, then of the United States army, com- 
manding the post at San Antonio, Texas, turned 
over to the regiment all the army supplies at the 
post, consisting of five hundred Sharps rifles, 
twenty-six wagons and mule teams, some army 
size single barreled pistols, several ambulances 
and teams for same, and other accompaniments. 

The regiment was composed of eleven hundred 
and fifty men, rank and file, and was one of the 
best equipped in the Confederate service. When 
first organized it was put in the brigade com- 
manded by Brigadier Benjamin McCulloch until 
he was killed at the battle of Elkhorn, or Pea 
Ridge, five miles from Bentonville, Ark., March 
7, 1862. The regiment with its brigade was first 
ordered for duty in the Indian Territory, where 
it was engaged in its first battles with the Fed- 
eral Indians. 



112 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

For a compreliensive understanding of the 
situation in that department at the commence- 
ment of hostilities, it is necessary to state that, 
after much effort and negotiation by the Federals 
and Confederates to secure the co-operation of 
the Indians, the tribes were nearly equally di- 
vided between the north and south. The prin- 
cipal part of the Creeks, under the celebrated 
chief, Hopoeithleyola, together with a portion 
of the Seminoles, under their no less celebrated 
chief, Halek Tustenuggee, and a few scattering 
remnants from other tribes, espoused the Fed- 
eral cause, including the Pin Indians, the savage 
Tubbies, a small division of the Creek Indians. 
To indicate the unfair character of the Federals 
in these negotiations, we here copy verbatim a 
letter from E. H. Carruth, one of the Federal 
commissioners to negotiate with the Indians : 

Barnsvii^lK, September 10, 1861. 
Hopoeithleyola^ Hok-tar-har-sas, Harjo, 

Brethren: Your letter by Mico Hutka received. You 
will send a deleg-ation of your best men to meet the com- 
missioner of the United States government in Kansas, I 
am authorized to inform you that the President will not 
forget you. Our army will soon go south, and those of 
your people who are true and loyal to the government will 
be treated as friends. Your rights to property will be re- 
spected. The commissioners from the Confederate States 
have deceived you. They have two tongues — they want to 
get the Indians to fight, and they will rob and plunder you 
if they can get you into trouble. But the President is still 
alive, and his soldiers will soon drive these men who have 
violated your homes from the land they have treacherously 
entered. When your delegates return to you they will be 
able to inform you when and where your moneys will be 
paid. Those who stole your orphan funds will be punished, 
and you will learn that the people who are true to the gov- 
ernment which so long protected you are your friends. 
Your friend and brother, 

E. H. Carruth, 
Commissioner United States Government. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 1 1 3 

Letters of the same import were addressed by 
this commission to all the other tribes in the In- 
dian Territory. What counter representations 
were made by the agents of the Confederate gov- 
ernment have not been preserved. If so, they 
have escaped the investigations of the writer. 
But it is a fair presumption that they, laboring 
under the passions of the day, made equally as 
partisan representations to the tribes. The ne- 
gotiations on the part of the Confederate States 
were principally conducted by Brigadier Gen- 
eral Albert Pike, who had been attorney for many 
of the Indians, especially for the tribe of Choc- 
taws, for whom he had after long delay obtained 
an award from the government of |2,981,247.30. 
He was much beloved and idolized by the In- 
dians, and exerted great influence in drawing 
them to the Confederacy. But it must be said, 
in justice to his unswerving integrity and very 
great abilities in civil life, that whatever repre- 
sentations he made to the tribes were prompted 
by profound convictions of their absolute truth, 
although he was a man of very strong and pro- 
nounced prejudices and convictions. His asso- 
ciates in these negotiations were Colonel Doug- 
lass H. Cooper, of Mississippi, afterwards a brig- 
adier general, who had been an Indian agent 
prior to the commencement of hostilities, and 
had much influence with the Indians. He had 
been adopted into the tribe of Cherokees. The 
other was Elias C. Boudinot, son of the deceased 
Cherokee chief, Kille-ka-nah, descended from a 
long line of chiefs, dating back to the settlement 
on James river by the cavaliers in 1620. Boudi- 
not was classically educated, a lawyer of no mean 



1 14 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

attainments by profession, and was perhaps the 
most intellectual of the Indian race. The writer 
was well acquainted with him and his wife, a 
Miss Moore, of Washington City, where they 
were married. Both husband and wife were pas- 
sionately fond of music, and were fine perform- 
ers. His wife inherited his estate in the Indian 
Territory, where she has accumulated a fortune 
in the fine management of her large cotton and 
grain farms. 

The Third and Sixth Texas cavalry regiment, 
with a battalion of Texas troops and five com- 
panies, called the Arkansas rifles, under Colonel 
James M. Mcintosh, afterwards a brigadier gen- 
eral, were ordered to service in the Indian Ter- 
ritory, to contend with the Federal troops and 
Indian allies for supremacy there. The Creek 
Indians, undei' their celebrated chief, Hopoeith- 
leyola (pronounced Ho-poth-leola), and the 
Seminoles, under their chief, Halek Tustenuggee, 
confederated with the Federals, together with 
some remnants from other tribes, amounting to 
seventeen hundred warriors; and it was with 
these Indians, unaided by Federal troops, in 
1861, that the first battles were fought. 

The celebrated Indian fighter. Brigadier Gen- 
eral Benjamin McCulloch, commanded the Texas 
troops in the Indian Territory, until he was 
killed at Pea Kidge, or Elkhorn, on the seventh 
of March, 1862, gallantly leading his troops ; and 
near the same spot and time Brigadier General 
Jas. M. Mcintosh was also killed in the same bat- 
tle, leading the second cavalry charge that day. 
The great Indian battle of Chustenahlah (pro- 
nounced Chuce-te-nah-la) in the Cherokee na- 



Reminiscences of the Civil Wa7\ 115 

tion, near the confluence of the Verdigris with 
the Arkansas river, fought on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1861, which we relate further on, illustrates 
the character of war with the Indians. 

Here, bj way of digression, to give a clear idea 
of Indian character and methods of fighting when 
combined with white men in battle, we may 
state that Colonel Douglass H. Cooper, after- 
wards a general, who organized the first and sec- 
and Choctaw regiments within two miles of Old 
Fort Gibson in the spring of 1861, called them 
up and made a speech to them, designed to in- 
fluence them to depart from their own peculiar 
methods of conducting battles, and to conform 
to civilized methods of warfare. The Choctaws 
made Big Chief their spokesman on this occa- 
sion. John Nevill, a Confederate soldier from 
Fort Smith, was present on that occasion, and 
reports in substance the speeches of both Cooper 
and Big Chief to the writer. Cooper said to 
them, that this is a white man's war, and that 
they must never harm a prisoner taken in battle, 
but must feed and treat them kindly, and must 
never scalp one after death, nor kill a prisoner 
under any circumstances whatever. 

The countenance of every Indian indicated 
strong disapproval of such doctrine. Big Chief 
replied that the Indians had been taught by all 
of their forefathers that they ought to kill all 
their enemies; that when dead they could flght 
no more ; that if captured and turned loose, they 
would have to fight them again and perhaps loose 
their own lives; that if they were fools enough 
to do like the white men in turning prisoners 
loose so they could fight again, it would be best 



ii6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

for the Indians who turned them loose to get 
killed in the next battle with them, because it 
would thin out the big fools and leave smart and 
brave men in the tribe. As for the Buffalo sol- 
diers (negroes) they would scalp every one they 
caught or killed in battle. 

From the last declaration of Big Chief they 
would not and never did recede, and very re- 
luctantly agreed not to kill white prisoners or 
scalp dead ones. They had a holy horror of can- 
non shots. When a ball fell or shell burst any- 
where about them, they would wheel en masse 
and run until they got to timber, whether near 
or ten miles off. When a shell burst within 
range of their vision, they would raise their right 
hand and wave it in the direction of the shell 
and halloo, "Wah!" They said they would not 
fight where they shot wagons at them. 

General Pike's report of the action of his 
Indian brigade at Pea Kidge, or Elkhorn, is 
amusing. At the roar of the first cannon they 
flew in wild disorder to the nearest timber in the 
rear and took shelter behind the trees, halloo- 
ing, "Wah!" at the crack of every piece of the 
enemy's artillery. Nor could they be induced 
to advance on a battery. 

The Third Texas cavalry at Pea Kidge charged 
and captured a battery of four guns and turned 
them over to Pike's command, the horses drawing 
the captured battery having been killed in the 
charge. General Pike says he tried his utmost to 
get his Indian troops to drag the cannon into the 
timber, and that not one of them would touch 
them. "Wagon gun heap big! No good for In- 
dian!" they said. The general also complains 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 117 

of General Van Dorn for ordering his Indians 
in range of artillery, and says he told Van Dorn 
his Indians would not stand under artillery fire. 

Nevill relates an amusing episode which oc- 
curred at the battle of Poison Springs in south- 
western Arkansas in 1864. General Cooper, to 
encourage and enthuse his Indians, attached two 
companies of daring Texas cavalry to his second 
Choctaw regiment. At the battle of Poison 
Springs, which was a very considerable fight 
with the Federal troops, the Texans attached to 
the Choctaw regiment charged the Federals three 
successive times, and drove them back every 
charge. Whilst the Federals were retreating the 
Choctaws would move up and fire on them until 
they stopped and made a stand. When the Fed- 
erals wheeled into line the Choctaws would stop 
and say, "Tex, you start um and we run 
um." It was easy going when the enemy was 
on the retreat, but their enthusiasm died out 
every time the Federals wheeled for battle. After 
the battle was over an Indian ventured up to a 
captured battery, laid his hand on one of the 
guns and said, "Ef me know this wagon gun 
here, me no come here to fight." 

General Pike never could induce them to either 
face artillery fire, or stand their ground in an 
open space facing the enemy's fire. Nor did any 
commander ever induce them to believe that in- 
fantry fire at close range is infinitely more dan- 
gerous than balls and shells thrown by cannon at 
great distance. At Pea Ridge, or Elkhorn, they 
scattered like a covey of quail at the first fire 
of cannon, and General Pike told them to fight 
after their own fashion. Half of the time at that 



ii8 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

battle he neither knew where his own command 
or that of his superior oflftcers were. He sent his 
aides for orders and went in person to find his 
superior officers, and for hours failed to find 
them. His Indians, as disciplined soldiers, were 
a mere travesty on warfare. 

The Indians in the service of either army were 
not worth the outfit expended on them by either 
Federal or Confederate. This is the plain unvar- 
nished truth — a hewing to the line ; let the chips 
fall where they will. I am aware that there are 
a few honorable exceptions to this general esti- 
mate, especially with the half breed, educated 
Indians. But the old Tubbies, as the full blood, 
uneducated Indians are called, who adhere to the 
savage traits and traditions of their ancestors, 
are and were then vulnerable to this criticism. I 
am also aware that the conditions and affilia- 
tions of some white men will lead them to com- 
bat this estimate of Indian character. 



THE BATTLE OF OHUSTBJ^AHLAH. 



The Confederates had five companies of the 
Third Texas cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant 
Colonel William P. Lane, seven companies of 
the Sixth Texas cavalry, under Colonel W. C. 
Young, four companies of the Second Arkansas 
mounted riflemen, under Colonel James M. Mc- 
intosh, and one company of Texans, the Lamar 
cavalry, under Captain H. S. Bennett, number- 
ing in the aggregate one thousand three hundred 
and eighty men, rank and file, the whole being 
under the command of Colonel Mcintosh at that 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 119 

time, General McCullocli, the Texas brigade com- 
mander, being at Richmond, where he had been 
called for consultation. 

The Indians, under the commands of the Creek 
chief Hopoeithlejola, and the Seminole chief^ 
Halek Tustenuggee, with some remnants of other 
tribes, numbering seventeen hundred, who were 
Federal adherents. They chose a very advanta- 
geous position on a high hill, covered with trees 
and large boulders. A short time before that 
they had outnumbered, and had whipped the 
First and Second regiments of Choctaws, and 
some white troops under Colonel Cooper, and 
were very much elated over their victory. They 
felt certain of success again, and were very im- 
pudent and insulting. Before the battle com- 
menced they showed themselves on the crest of 
the hill, gobbled like wild turkeys, turned their 
backs to the Confederates and slapped their 
hands on their thighs in derision and contempt 
of their enemies. Little did they know that the 
bravest and best Indian fighters on the continent 
confronted them, and that they would soon be 
cut to pieces and fleeing for life. 

The five companies of the Third Texas cavalry, 
including Richardson, were placed in the center 
of the attacking column, and commanded to 
charge through the timber and rocks to the crest 
of the hill at its highest point, where the Indians 
were strongest. Other divisions charged with 
them, to the right and left center. A moving col- 
umn of charging cavalry presents one of the 
finest sights a warrior ever beheld. The wind 
roars like a storm. The Confederates soon 
reached the heights, through a storm of bullets. 



I20 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

They swept the Indians like a tornado from be- 
hind the trees and rocks. Those Texans, who had 
graduated under MeCulloch on the frontier, were 
the best Indian fighters in the United States. 
Between five and six hundred Indians lay dead 
on the heights of Chustenahlah. They were de- 
feated, routed, and fled in haste and horror, leav- 
ing their horses and everything they had accumu- 
lated of value in their camp. The power of the 
Creeks and Seminoles was broken, and their 
vapid courage was exhausted, and they were of 
no use to the Federals ever after that battle. 
The Federals had just prior to that battle dis- 
tributed thousands of yards of ribbon, hundreds 
of guns, abundance of ammunition, clothing, 
blankets and everything pleasing to the savage 
fancy of the Indians, most of which was cap- 
tured. 

The Texans scalped a number of the savages 
and trimmed off their saddles and bridles with 
them and covered themselves and rigging for 
their horses with the new flashy ribbons, and 
marched into Fort Smith in this wild and pic- 
turesque paraphernalia, when on their way to 
winter quarters at Frog Bayou, just below Van 
Bur en. They justified the scalping by the lex 
talionis, or law of retaliation. Their conflicts 
with Indians on the frontiers of Texas, the hun- 
dreds of scalps they had cut from the heads of 
innocent women and children of Texas, the lurid 
flames rising from their dwellings, came in pan- 
oramic horror before them, and to their minds, 
reared as they were and enured to the horrors 
of Indian cruelty, justifled and invited this re- 
taliation in kind. This fact is due to history. 



Beminiscences of the Civil TFar. 121 

The writer who knowingly suppresses facts so 
closely connected with the events in hand can 
have no claim to impartiality. This regalia of 
savage trappings was discarded after the excite- 
ment engendered by the conflict passed away. 

Their passions, exasperated from youth by the 
cruelties the barbarians had inflicted on them 
and theirs, drowned temporarily every consider- 
ation of Pharisaical cant for "Poor Lo.'' Pro- 
found impressions had been forced by "Poor Lo" 
on their minds in an opposite direction from 
cultured theology. They had been reared in a 
rough heroic school, and were fighting Indians 
when those farther back in the states were at- 
tending church and Sunday schools. These ob- 
servations are by no means introduced as an 
apology, but they trend strongly in mitigation. 

When the Texans arrived at Port Smith early 
in January, on their way to winter quarters, they 
were denied the privilege to dismount, for fear 
that they would patronize saloons too freely ; but 
they were halted on the main thoroughfare in the 
city, and the good citizens of that border city 
ministered to their every want, including an 
abundance of wholesome food, which they had 
long been without, and their courtesies were not 
forgotten. "Spirits that make just men perfect," 
huzzahs and congratulations filled the air, and 
the ladies manifested the keenest appreciation 
of the warriors, whose presence they honored. 
The same scenes were repeated at Van Buren. 

A private of the Sixth Texas cavalry on the 
field of Chustenahlah found a silver medal four 
inches in diameter and one-half inch thick. The 
medallion on one side represented the hand of 



122 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the Great Father grasping the hand of an Indian 
chief in token of brotherly friendship; the ob- 
verse side represented the Goddess of Liberty. 
It was pure silver and worth fifty dollars. 



PERILOUS ADVENTURES OF TWO CAP- 
TAINS OF CAVALRY. 



A. C. Richardson, of the Third Texas cavalry, 
tells the following remarkable adventure of two 
captains of his regiment. 

The regiment was with General Price on his 
raid into Missouri in the summer and fall of 
1861, after the battle of Wilson's Creek, in which 
they were engaged. General Fremont's head- 
quarters were then in Springfield, and the Third 
Texas was in camp but a few miles from the city. 

Captain Alf. Johnson, of the scout and spy 
service, and Captain H. P. Mabry, both of the 
same regiment, concluded that they would ven- 
ture within the Federal lines and take a view of 
Springfield and its environs and obtain all the 
information they could as to the enemy's strength 
and location. They advanced through a dense 
undergrowth extending up to a cornfield, where 
a wide gap in the picket lines was found. This 
dare devil pair, always ready to take desperate 
chances on slim margins, wended their way to a 
fine mansion within one-half mile of General 
Fremont's headquarters, and entered the man- 
sion owned by a gentleman of wealth and strong 
pro-southern convictions, who was then in the 
Confederate army. The mother and two daugh- 
ters occupied the mansion, and were attended by 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 123 

negro house servants. The spies were on foot 
but, as most Texans did, wore their large spurs. 
They were welcomed and greeted in the most 
hospitable manner, and the noble ladies gladly 
gave them all the information at their command. 
So far it was smooth sailing. But there was a 
treacherous negro woman belonging to the fam- 
ily, who slipped out unobserved and hastened to 
General Fremont's headquarters, which were in 
plain view of the house, and told him that two 
rebels were in the house talking to her mistress 
and daughters. The general sent a sergeant and 
three men to take the rebels in as spies to be exe- 
cuted. 

Time passes rapidly and often unobserved in 
social converse with cultured ladies. One of the 
girls played the soul inspiring tune of "Dixie'' 
on the piano. 

Hark! A call at the gate. Looking out they 
discovered four Federals on horseback. The 
rebel spies had entered into a covenant to fight 
until death rather than be captured as spies and 
executed as such. The moment to carry that cov- 
enant into execution had arrived. 

Captain Mabry said: 

"Captain Johnson, you must get out at the 
window whilst I go out and meet them at the 
gate.'' 

This took place in much less time than it takes 
to read it. 

Captain Mabry walked out cool and deliber- 
ately to the gate, without exhibiting his side 
arms, or the least inclination to resist. 

The sergeant inquired: 

"Do you live here?" 



124 Beminiscences of the Civil War. 

"Yes," responded the captain. 

The sergeant then placed his hand on the cap- 
tain's shoulder and said: 

"You are my prisoner.'' 

"All right," said the captain, at the same time 
reaching for his belt as if to surrender his arms. 

By this move the sergeant was completely de- 
ceived and thrown off his guard. The Texan 
drew his bowie knife as quick as a flash of light- 
ning and plunged it into the bosom of the ser- 
gent, who fell dead at his feet. Then as quickly 
drew his repeating army pistol and fired rapidly 
and with deadly aim at the three remaining ene- 
mies, whilst he retreated backwards to the house 
with his face to the enemy. He killed two more 
and wounded the fourth slightly. All were fir- 
ing at him. One ball shattered his right hand, 
and his pistol fell to the ground, but he made 
his escape into the house thus wounded and dis- 
abled. But he seized his bowie knife in his left 
hand as he entered the house. All this occurred 
in the space of one-half minute. 

The last of the four Federals was as brave as 
Caesar, or any soldier who ever bore arms, and 
although wounded he was not disabled from 
fighting. He ran around to the rear of the house, 
where Captain Johnson was supposed to be 
ready to meet him and give battle. But John- 
son had met with the most singular accident 
ever recorded in the history of war. The window 
through which he attempted to make his exit 
from the house was hung with a heavy damask 
curtain, and in making his exit his heavy long 
spurs caught in the curtain and held him head 
downward; and just as he was cut down by one 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 125 

of the noble girls, who never lost presence of 
mind, the Federal commenced firing at him. 
One shot passed through his thigh, but he sprang 
to his feet with the rapidity of lightning, and, 
with unerring aim, killed his assailant just as 
Captain Mabry was approaching from the rear 
of the enemy with his bowie knife. All four of 
the Federals were now dead. 

The noble heroic girl who took a delicate hand 
in the fight by relieving Johnson from his exceed- 
ing perilous position deserves a niche high up 
on the archway to the temple of our tragic fame, 
and is worthy of a place in our immortal history 
alongside that of the heroine of Jackson, Tenn., 
and Emma Samson, of Alabama, the heroine of 
Georgia, Belle Boyd, and the widow Lewis, of 
revolutionary fame. 

It is much regretted that Richardson in the 
lapse of years has forgotten her name. But it is 
believed that the citizens around and in Spring- 
field who then lived there, and who have survived 
the war, can easily discover her name. It belongs 
to history, to mankind and to immortality. 
When discovered and given to the public, the 
Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy will erect 
a monument to perpetuate her renown, and the 
historian of coming ages will perpetuate her 
glory and wreathe it with other jewels in our 
southern crown. 

The wounded captains made their way back 
to camp, and escaped the squad who were sent 
too late in pursuit. All the service the Federals 
performed was to take charge of their dead com- 
rades. 



126 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

At the reorganization of the regiment in May, 
1862, Captain Mabry was elected colonel of the 
regiment. At the battle of luka he led his regi- 
ment in four desperate charges on a strong bat- 
tery of six Napoleon guns. On the second of 
these charges one of his feet was badly shattered 
by a gunshot wound. He refused to leave the 
field, and threw the wounded foot over the horn 
of his saddle and led the third and fourth charges 
and succeeded in capturing the battery on the 
fourth and last charge. Two horses were killed 
under him during these charges. When leading 
his men as infantry he always kept his eagle eye 
on the eenmy, and when he saw the flash of their 
guns would instantly give the command, "Down !'' 
and his men would fall to the ground before the 
balls reached the line. No officer was ever more 
careful of his men. With others he was captured 
at luka, but threw away his uniform and dressed 
in a private's garb, and was paroled as such. In 
this way he ingeniously avoided detection and 
responsibility for the character of spy he had 
acted at Springfield, Mo., and imprisonment as 
an officer. 

Colonel Mabry was a lawyer at the Texas bar 
at the commencement of hostilities. After the 
war he resumed his practice, was elected judge 
of the district court, and discharged the duties 
of his office with great fidelity and distinguished 
ability. Captain Johnson was reported killed in 
battle in Louisiana. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 127 

GUNBOATS PATROL THE MISSISSIPPI. 



In the winter of 1863, Generals Marmaduke, 
Fagan, Shelby and other Confederate commands, 
Avere west of the Mississippi river, which were 
early in the spring of 1864 united with General 
Sterling Price's Missouri troops. At the same 
time General Steele had a large Federal force at 
Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Camden and other ad- 
jacent posts in Arkansas, preparing to force their 
way through Arkansas into Louisiana, to form a 
junction with General Banks at Shreveport, La. 

The Confederate forces, collected early in 1864 
to prevent the junction of the armies of Generals 
Banks and Steele, numbered about eight thou- 
sand men of all arms. Many of the Confederate 
troops were poorly armed, and it was a matter 
of great difficulty to get these arms from east of 
the Mississippi river, both banks of which were 
guarded by troops and Federal gunboats. The 
Confederate authorities east of the Mississippi 
river sent three thousand Dalgreen rifles and 
ordered General Ross, commanding a Texas bri- 
gade of cavalry, to take charge of the guns and 
transport them across the Mississippi river, if 
possible, and as soon as possible. To accomplish 
this, small craft had to be procured and small 
quantities at a time carried over in the night. 
Finally all were carried over and delivered to 
General Marmaduke. Whilst doing this General 
Ross's scouts discovered five hundred bales of 
cotton secreted in a canebrake, in Bolivar county, 
Mississippi, which belonged to the Confederate 
government. 



128 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

After this service was successfully performed 
General Koss posted his brigade near Verona, 
Miss. A large number of his men were 
without shoes, socks, blankets and overcoats, and 
in a very destitute condition to resist inclement 
winter weather. Knowing where the cotton be- 
longing to the Confederate government was se- 
creted, A. 0. Richardson and three comrades con- 
cluded that they would be perfectly justifiable in 
appropriating enough of this cotton to supply 
their very pressing necessities, and in the midst 
of cold and inclement weather set out for that 
purpose. They crossed the Yazoo river, and 
many bayous, creeks, slashes and sloughs in a 
very cold rainy season. Icicles hung from their 
thin, scant clothing and from the manes and tails 
of their horses. All the slashes and streams were 
full of water, some of which they had to swim 
when almost perishing with cold. 

When they arrived in the near vicinity of the 
cotton, night — dark as Erebus, with a heavy 
downpour of rain — overtook them and they 
stopped for the night at a residence on the road- 
side, where they were furnished with a generous 
meal, a good bedroom and shelter and feed for 
their horses. Weary and worn from the hard- 
ship and privations suffered, they deposited their 
arms and went to bed, the rain falling down in 
torrents. To their great surprise and chagrin, 
between midnight and day they were roused from 
their sound slumbers to find their arms taken and 
themselves prisoners. They were marched off 
next morning through mud and rain, in the worst 
season perhaps ever experienced in the Missis- 
sippi valley. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 129 

Pour men guarding the four prisoners stopped 
the second night at a residence. There was a 
large passage running through the residence, and 
the dining room was on the opposite side of the 
passage from the room where the prisoners were 
seated. Richardson embraced an opportune mo- 
ment to arrange with his comrades to escape 
when they sat down to the supper then being pre- 
pared. It was still raining hard when they were 
all invited to the dining room. The captors all 
deposited their guns near the entrance door, and 
when the prisoners took seats at the table the 
captors also took seats. At that moment Rich- 
ardson and his comrades sprang like tigers, 
seized the guns, and made their captors prisoners. 
The ladies of the house clapped their hands in 
joyful glee and said, "Hurrah for Ross's men." 

They guarded them secure until next morning, 
when they paroled them, took their horses and 
equipment, and told them if they stirred from 
that house before night they would return with 
their whole brigade, recapture and execute them. 
It was but a few miles to the enemy's headquar- 
ters, and the Texans feared they might gather 
reinforcements, overtake and overpower them, 
but they made their way back to the brigade in 
safety. 

Often the soldiers were hungry and hard pressed 
to get a pittance to eat, and were often compelled 
to forage or starve. On one occason the brigade 
camped for several days near the farm of a 
wealthy old gentleman, who possessed more than 
one hundred fat hogs. At that time a severe 
order from General Ross was in force, ordering 
every soldier caught foraging to be dismounted 



130 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

and sent to the infantry. Food was scarce in 
camp, and that not of inviting quality. They 
craved a fat hog more than a king ever craved a 
royal banquet. But that fearful order was in 
the way, and must be avoided. Company F re- 
solved on a mess of pork, come what would. It 
required but one man to take one hog. None 
would volunteer to risk the penalty. Finally 
they agreed for every private in Company F to 
draw straws to determine on whom the raid on 
the hog pasture should fall, and it fell to Kich- 
ardson's lot to bring the carcass into camp. 

He proceeded to the pasture, selected one 
weighing about seventy-five pounds, killed and 
separated the cuticle nicely from the body, cut it 
in halves, and was in the act of sacking and 
throwing the body across his horse when the old 
farmer rode up and asked him if he knew whose 
hog it was. To which Richardson replied: 

"I think it was yours an hour ago, but I have 
transferred the ow^nership and now have posses- 
sion. Are you going to report me to General 
Ross? If you do it may go hard with both of us. 
I don't intend to be transferred to the infantry, 
and I don't suppose you are ready to be trans- 
lated to heaven. What have you to say?" 

The old farmer good humoredly replied: 

"I don't intend to report you, but I do think 
you ought to divide the meat with me." 

"Yes, yes ; that is fair and right, and I accede 
to it," replied the hungry raider, as he handed 
him up half of the meat. 

On another similar occasion a well to do old 
farmer had a hundred bushels of sweet potatoes 
banked up in a hill some distance from his house, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 131 

and the farmer applied to General Ross for a 
guard over his potatoes, and the request was 
granted. But when the relief guards came the 
retiring guards filled their sacks before they gave 
way to their successors. In this way every po- 
tato disappeared, but the empty mound was left 
intact. 

The old farmer, not knowing that his potatoes 
had found a ready market, went to General Ross 
and proposed to sell them, and the proposition 
was accepted. They proceeded to the mound and 
found the edibles non est. 



EVERLASTING THINGS SOMETIMES 
HANG ON SLENDER THREADS. 



The Third Texas cavalry were dismounted and 
detailed as sharpshooters at Kennesaw mountain. 
The line they had to occupy was so long the 
sharpshooters were placed about twenty feet 
apart. The sides and crest of the mountain was 
covered with dense undergrowth at the post 
where Richardson was stationed, and the Federal 
sharpshooters occupied a position just below the 
crest of the mountain, within fifty yards of the 
Confederate sharpshooters, and at first were 
wholly concealed from them. 

Richardson, wholly innocent of the presence of 
the enemy in the bushes, was looking across the 
intervening valley to the ridge beyond, when sud- 
denly, and much to his surprise, he discovered 
what seemed to be a green bush very slowly and 
cautiously advancing to a small open space in 
front of him and not more than twenty yards dis- 



132 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

tant. Here was a startling revelation. Bushes 
don't walk. They bend to and fro in a breeze, but 
remain rooted to the ground. 

It was a Federal sharpshooter in disguise. He 
had pinned small branches with green leaves to 
his shoulders, and had covered his hat with them ; 
and if he had stood still would not have been dis- 
covered in time to become a sacrifice to his own 
daring ingenuity. 

Kichardson held his gun in readiness to shoot, 
and waited a moment until the Federal raised 
his hand to remove the foliage in front of his 
face. When he did this the sun shone full in his 
face, which was in marked contrast to the foliage. 

Kichardson fired and killed him at a distance 
of fifty feet. The cry then went along the line, 
"Look out I the enemy is advancing up the moun- 
tain in strong force.'' 

Firing then became general all along the line 
at a distance of not more than fifty yards — hot 
as hades and in uncomfortably close quarters. 
Twenty steps to Eichardson's right stood a little 
Norwegian comrade (elsewhere noticed in con- 
tact with General Forrest), as brave as any sol- 
dier in the army. He was in advance of the Con- 
federate line, and had taken shelter behind a tree 
after the main line of the Confederates had be- 
come heavily engaged, supported by the Fifty- 
sixth Alabama regiment. The little Norwegian 
fired and killed his man, and was immediately 
surrounded and captured, and was twice shot 
at after he threw down his gun. 

At this time Kichardson, only a few paces dis- 
tant, had taken shelter behind an oak tree, where 
he was found when a soldier of the Fifty-sixth 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 133 

Alabama came to relieve him. The enemy was 
then crossfiring on that part of the line, and 
Richardson lay down for protection, and told 
the Alabamian to lie down ; but he did not heed 
the admonition. He seemed perfectly bewildered 
amidst the storm of bullets whistling along the 
lines of the enemy's crossfire. It was not cour- 
age to stand — with him it was confusion con- 
founded. The words had scarcely escaped Rich- 
ardson's lips before he was shot through the head 
and fell dead across his feet. 

By this time the Confederates began to give 
way and retreat down the mountain to a deep 
ravine or creek. Richardson straddled the 
bushes and beat his way over every obstacle to 
the creek one hundred yards distant, amidst a 
hailstorm of bullets. His hat and hair were 
trimmed up and his clothing looked fit only for 
the rag shop, but his skin was not broken. Some- 
times it is not best to stand on the order of going, 
nor in the manner of sweeping stakes. The Texan 
who is spare made, tall and as wiry as a whale- 
bone, says that was the time to "get, you bet." 
He yet enjoys the run heartily. When he got to 
the creek and behind its bank, he says he felt as 
easy as a pair of old slippers. Then it was his 
time to work his gun. Turning when he got to 
that natural fortification, the first Federal that 
offered himself as a target was one of the squad 
who had captured the Norwegian, and shot at 
him after he had thrown his gun down. He took 
deliberate aim at him, and saw him slap his hand 
to his breast and fall. 

By this time the Confederates had reinforced 
their comrades and checked the whirlwind ad- 



134 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

vance of the Federals from the top of the ridge 
facing them; but Richardson was still in the 
creek one hundred yards in advance of his com- 
rades, and there he worked his gun for all that a 
Dalgreen was worth, and got ample revenge for 
the speed they had made him develop. But the 
danger was not over by any means. He was or- 
dered back to his lines, and had to wade the 
swollen creek up to his armpits, and climb the 
ridge one hundred yards to the line amidst an- 
other hailstorm of minnie balls, and miraculously 
escaped again. 

The little Norwegian who was captured on top 
of the Kennesaw was exchanged in a few weeks, 
rejoined his command, and told Richardson that 
the Federal he first shot after getting to the creek 
did not live ten minutes. "There is many a slip 
between the cup and the lip," and there is many 
a slip between life and death. 



A GEORGIA HEROINE. 



Richardson tells the following daring adven- 
ture of two of his comrades of the Third Texas 
cavalry. 

One of the greatest calamities that could 
befall a cavalryman was to lose his horse, and 
that very often happened. Many thousands of 
horses were killed in battle, and many thousands 
more died from exhaustion and want of food. 
Long forced marches through districts where 
food for the noble animal could not be found 
often entailed much suffering on both horses and 
men. During Joseph E. Johnston's retreat from 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 135 

Dalton to Atlanta, Bert Jarvis and one of his 
comrades lost their horses and were exceedingly 
anxious to secure more, which could not be done 
at that time without capturing them from the 
enemy, which was rather a desperate undertaking 
for two gentlemen alone and on foot. 

They had been Texas rangers on the frontier, 
and had learned lessons from the Indians, who 
often accomplished such feats at night. The com- 
manding officer knew their value as soldiers, 
knew their courage and skill, and did not want 
to transfer them to the infantry, so readily gave 
his consent and a furlough to protect them from 
being arrested as stragglers or deserters from the 
Confederate army. 

They soon reached the rear of the Federal 
army and constituted themselves a corps of ob- 
servation. They wanted the best animals to be 
found in the Federal market, especially as the 
transfer of title did not involve a draft on their 
exchequer. When satisfied they had reached the 
rear of the cavalry arm they advanced their 
lines, flanked the last brigade by scudding across 
woods and fields, thus arriving at an advantag- 
eous position on the right flank of the unsuspect- 
ing enemy, then about sunset settled into position 
on a fence, which paralleled the road on the line 
of approach, and near the point where they con- 
cluded the enemy would go into camp. 

They were within seventy-five yards of the en- 
emy as they marched along; and as they pre- 
ferred a night attack, they dropped down in a 
clump of briers in the fence corner and gener- 
ously let the enemy pass. They had diagnosed 
the Federals' probable camping ground well. 



136 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Water in abundance and a nice grove three hun- 
dred yards distant held out sufficient induce- 
ments at that late hour, and the enemy embraced 
the advantages at that point. 

The raiders watched and peered through twi- 
light and darkness, while the stars peeping 
through the foliage did not betray their presence 
or throw light on their designs. They surveyed 
the position of a group of horses and marked out 
the line of approach, leaving the rebel yell out. 

The Federal pickets were one hundred yards 
apart with an intervening clump of trees be- 
tween stations. As they were stationary it was 
easy sailing for ingress and egress under the 
dark foliage. So far fortune favored them. But 
several other dangers were to be met. The officer 
of the guard paced up and down the picket lines, 
and must be avoided. Then some one is most 
always up or awake at every hour of the night, 
from various causes. The Federals spread their 
blankets and lay down within sixty or seventy 
feet of their horses. But there is a trite old 
adage that "fortune favors the brave." Again, 
the well shod horses, after success in getting 
possession, might strike the rocks and raise 
the devil. To avoid this last danger the dare 
devils tore their clothing and made muflles to tie 
on their feet, to deaden the noise from friction 
against the rocks. Then they laid in wait as 
silent as death to await the wee hours of two in 
the morning. The officer of the guard got weary 
of pacing up and down the picket line and took 
a rest, as no danger whatever was apprehended 
in the rear of the army, especially when the Con- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 137 

federates were miles away, being pushed forward 
on their retreat. 

At two in the morning a gravelike silence per- 
vaded the camp, and the Texas hustlers for horse- 
flesh left their rendezvous and crawled on all 
fours with ears as alert as that of the chamois 
in the Alps. They found it an easy job, and felt 
chagrined that they had taken so much unneces- 
sary precaution. They found it so easy that they 
concluded to take each two horses instead of one. 
They picked out the best of the two thousand sub- 
ject to their choice, muffled their feet, saddled and 
bridled them, mounted and rode silently away 
without arousing the least suspicion or alarm. 

It developed afterwards that Bert Jarvis had 
appropriated the best horse in the army, and that 
he had approached within twenty feet of the 
sleeping colonel who owned him. 

Well out of the lines they took the muffles off, 
and made sure that their side arms were in order. 
On they sped, as they thought, to the rear of the 
Federal army, and when the sun rose they felt a 
gnawing at their stomachs, which had been neg- 
lected, and reined up at the next house, dis- 
mounted and applied for food and provender. 

A gentle middle aged lady responded to their 
call and prepared the best her larder afforded, 
which was appropriated with the relish a hungry 
soldier alone can best appreciate. The good lady 
was baptised in the heroic faith of a true south- 
ern woman. Her husband and relatives were in 
the Confederate army. The raiders felt easy and 
secure of self and booty. But the good lady with 
anxious heart did not feel so secure. Often she 
stepped to the front porch and cast an eye near a 



138 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

mile away down the road, to be certain that the 
enemy did not overtake and surprise her guests, 
who had fallen into unconscious sleep in their 
chairs after their meal. Exhausted nature had 
asserted supremacy over physical endurance. A 
flax-headed son was equally vigilant in scanning 
the other reach of the road. 

"Hark I young warriors! The enemy ap- 
proaches from both extremes of the road. Not a 
moment is to be lost. To your arms and saddles. 
I will throw down the fence whilst you get in the 
saddles, and Jimmy will lead you to the deep cave 
behind the mountains, where you will not be 
found; and where yon must stay until I let you 
know when it is safe to come out. Until then I 
will send your meals and food for your horses." 

Thus spoke the heroine. Jimmy mounted one 
of the two extra horses and led the way to the 
deep cave in the mountains, near two miles away, 
and retraced his steps on foot to the log cottage, 
humble as the rich estimate wealth ; but the ten- 
ants were pure in heart and as patriotic and true 
to their country as the martyrs were to the re- 
ligion of Christ. 

No temptation would have induced that he- 
roine in the mountains of Georgia to betray those 
soldiers of the Confederacy. 

When the little tow-headed son got back to the 
log cabin, where virtue, patriotism and unpol- 
ished greatness of soul shone like a diamond in 
the dusty rifts of the mine, he found the house 
full of Federal soldiers — some eating at the table, 
others awaiting their meal. One of the officers 
was the colonel whose horse had been taken, and 
his tongue labored with the energy and vehem- 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 139 

ence of a volcano in denunciation of the d d 

rebels who stole the horses. He said : 

"The villains crept up to within twenty feet of 
my head and stole my horse, bridle, blanket and 
saddle, whilst I was asleep. My horse is worth 
five hundred dollars in gold, and I will give that 
amount for the capture of the rebel thieves who 
got him and three more of the best horses, almost 
as valuable. Madam, I have traced the horses to 
your house and stables and you must give up the 
thieves and horses. If you do not, I will burn 
and destroy this place.'^ 

The little boy, who had been an active partt- 
ceps criminiSy was almost paralyzed with alarm 
and stood at the chimney corner, with his heart 
in his mouth, like a statue, personating grief and 
fear, but with iron will to corroborate and follow 
the lead of his mother, whatever direction it 
might take. 

"Sir,'' said the heroine, "two Confederates with 
four horses stopped here at daylight this morn- 
ing, and I was compelled to cook breakfast for 
the men, whilst Jimmy, my son, fed their horses. 
They were in great haste and left on the road 
there in front of the house two hours before you 
came. That is all I can possibly tell you. You 
have it in your power to do what you please with 
a helpless woman and children, who have never 
harmed any human being. But if you do so in 
your wrath, it will not be long before you and I 
and all humanity will be called to the great bar 
of God to answer for the deeds done in the flesh, 
and when that great and — ^to the wicked — dread- 
ful hour comes, you will have to face me and my 
innocent children, and then you would give the 



140 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

world if you possessed it to exchange places with 
the poor woman you threaten distress and abuse/^ 

One of the older Federal soldiers, who sat on 
the bedside listening intently to the woman, was 
touched in heart, his sympathies were deeply 
aroused, and he said: 

^'Colonel, I believe that lady is speaking the 
truth as pure as it comes from God's throne. You 
and I were raised in a Christian land, and we 
want to serve God first and our country next. 
We came to war against men in arms and not 
against helpless women and children. At least, 
I did not enter the army for any such purpose. 
Cool down, colonel, and let your judgment take 
the place of passion. If you will do that, you will 
think as I do and agree with me." 

The colonel was a much younger man than the 
old private who thus addressed him, and though 
it is often exceedingly difficult to awaken a man's 
reason when he is laboring under great passion, 
he cooled down ; and when all had been supplied 
at the table, he bade the heroine farewell and left 
her unharmed. 

Her young son was soon after seated on a mule 
without saddle, and instructed to follow in the 
rear of the Federals and report to her in the af- 
ternoon where they w^ere last seen and in what 
direction going. When he returned, food for the 
Texans and provender for their horses was sent 
to the cave in the mountains, with instructions 
to remain there until further notice from her. 

The old Christian soldier who interposed lin- 
gered behind, and when all had left the cabin, 
took the lady and her boy each by the hand with 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 141 

a countenance radiant and jeweled with a tear, 
and said : 

"My good lady and son, I rejoice that God has 
made me his humble instrument in this valley of 
tears and sorrow, to speak in defense of the inno- 
cent and helpless. When this warfare is over, 
and we have seen the end of earth, I hope to meet 
you in heaven." 

Next morning the boy was scouting in another 
direction to ascertain the movements of the en- 
emy. Whilst the son was on this duty the mother 
prepared food and in person carried it to the 
cave. The son returned late in the evening and 
said he had seen many Federals passing early in 
the day on different roads, but the country ap- 
peared to be clear later in the day. Then she 
sent word very early next morning to the tenants 
of the cave to come in to an early repast, and she 
thought the country was now clear enough for 
them, with proper directions, to keep out of the 
reach of the Federals. 

After the best frugal repast at her command, 
she gave them minute directions to follow unfre- 
quented trails across the mountains, where sol- 
diers were never led, and sent her son as a guide. 
Thus this heroine contributed her mite to the 
southern arms. They in due time rejoined their 
command with four of the best horses in it. 
Jarvis rode the colonel's horse back to Texas 
after the final surrender. 

Peter Horry, a noble patriot with Marion in 
the revolution, in his biography of that great 
man, has spread the mantle of immortality over 
the name of the widow Lewis, who, though a 
great woman and patriot, never did more than 



142 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

this noble matron of the Georgia mountains, 
whose life, though cast in the humble walks of 
noble womanhood, shines like a crystal in a dia- 
dem. And yet that woman's heroism and patriot- 
ism is but typical of an hundred thousand and 
more noble women of the south, who glorified 
their sex in ten thousand and more ways during 
the darkest hours a patritoic people ever encoun- 
tered, and too much can never be said or written 
in their praise. 

The writer knew one young lady of delicate 
constitution, who was arrested at the picket lines 
around Memphis, Tenn., and thrown into prison, 
who was promised her freedom and a largess if 
she would disclose secrets known to be within 
her knowledge, which was never communicated 
to mortal other than the writer. She was sent to 
prison at Alton, 111., where she died rather than 
give up a secret which would have been in viola- 
tion of her promise of secrecy to a merchant of 
large capital, who had sold her goods to make a 
uniform for a Confederate officer to whom she 
was betrothed. The writer promised that deli- 
cate girl when he bade her farewell not to dis- 
close her name or give up her secret. She was 
born and reared near Collierville, Tenn., twenty- 
five miles from Memphis. 



THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON FARMS 
BY NORTHERN MEN. 



The Federal armies in their progress south 
were followed by an unscrupulous class of ad- 
venturers and speculators, who were governed by 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 143 

a sordid desire to hastily accumulate wealth with- 
out much regard to the means necessary to attain 
the end, and were often in copartnership with 
army officers. The larger operators exerted a 
powerful influence at the seat of government in 
obtaining permits to trade in the wake of the 
armies, and with the commanders of fleets and 
armies in obtaining military aid and convoys of 
protection on the navigable streams. The smaller 
operators, who were without the means and in- 
fluence to obtain such protection and accommo- 
dation, suffered like all small fish when poaching 
in the waters where whales flourish. 

Cotton, because of the blockade of southern 
ports and non-production during the war period, 
advanced to one dollar per pound and more. The 
mercenary contagion for gain which seized the 
civilian soon extended to the armies of occupa- 
tion in all the territory where large cotton plan- 
tations existed within the region of military pro- 
tection and occupation. This patriotic octopus 
very seriously interfered with the operations of 
the Federal armies operating in the cotton belt. 

Speculators took charge of many hundreds of 
these farms, to operate and cultivate them 
with contraband or negro labor, and mules and 
horses taken from non-combatant citizens, and 
condemned animals employed in the army — spe- 
cially condemned as unfit for service in the army, 
when they were very robust for the farm. "Mili- 
tary necessity" was the slogan under which the 
citizen fell. 

As a specimen tending to connect the army 
with these enterprises, we quote some references 
to these practices by Federal army officers, 



144 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

printed by the government in a voluminous war 
series : 

IviTTi,K Rock, August 20, 1864. 
Colonel Clayton, commanding Pine Bluff. 

Your troops must not be occupied in g-uarding- plantations 
when it interferes in the slightest degree with their other 
duties or their comforts. K. A. Carr, 

Brigadier General. 

To which the colonel on same date replied : 

Brigadier General E. A, Carr, Little Rock. 

Your order in reference to my guarding plantations is un- 
necessary, as I am not engaged in that business at present. 

POWEI,!. Cl<AYTON, 

Commanding Pine Bluff. 

The author is informed that a regiment of 
negroes was recruited in the vicinity of Pine 
Bluff for the purpose of guarding plantations, 
and were clothed with the misnomer of "home 
guards"; and in pity be it said, they were com- 
manded by a southern citizen of prominence. 

Another specimen of agricultural operations 
under the fostering care of the Federal army in 
the interest of men having very strong influence 
at Washington : 

Headquarters District of Eastern Arkansas. 
Hei<ENA, Ark., Jui^y 26, 1864. 
Major General C. W. Mashburn. 

Sir: I sent a small reconnoitering party of one hundred 
and fifty cavalry, three hundred colored infantry and one 
section of colored light artillery in the direction of Big 
Creek. A squad of cavalry report that they left the com- 
mand nine miles from here, fighting Colonel Dobbin, who 
was two thousand strong, and that his force entirely sur- 
rounded mine. Should this report be true, I shall be left 
with but three hundred cavalry fit for duty, and but two 
pieces of light artillery, and for so extended a line a very 
small force, and that defended by colored troops in the bat- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 145 

teries. I have eig"ht hundred on the sick list. If possible 
send me reinforcements immediately. I cannot protect the 
small forts and the levee plantations without cavalry and 
light artillery. N. B. Buford, 

Brig-adier General Commanding. 

See "War of Kebellion/' Series I, Vol. 61, pp. 
401 and 786. 

Thus we have official proofs that a major gen- 
eral of the United States army, down to briga- 
diers and colonels, were engaged in protecting the 
agricultural adventurers who commanded such 
powerful influence at Washington during the 
progress of the war, not only in farming cotton 
plantations, but in every line of trade promising 
large profits. These matters embraced parts of 
Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. As to how 
far they extended into other cotton states, the 
writer has not investigated. 

This method of dealing with the agricultural 
interests of the south invited retaliatory mea- 
sures by the Confederacy, which put soldiers in 
the field to checkmate and prevent it as far as 
possible. 

In the spring of 1864 Brigadier General Boss, 
with his brigade of Texas cavalry, was encamped 
for quite a while at Pritchett's Crossroads, ad- 
jacent to Big Black river, in Mississippi. At 
that time some northern gentlemen of speculative 
inclination had possession of the celebrated Ball 
Ground farm, just above the confluence of the 
Yazoo and Mississippi rivers — so named from 
being used as a ball ground by the Indians at an 
early day. It was large, fertile and very pro- 
ductive, and a fine steam gin and mill was on the 
farm. It belonged to a young man in the Con- 
federate service. 



146 Reminiscences of the Civil Wars 

A regimen fc of colored cavalry and a regiment 
of white infantry were then stationed on the hills 
adjacent to the open land to guard the northern 
planter, for whom animals in the surrounding 
country had been seized, ostensibly for military 
service, but in reality to be used by the numerous 
contraband negroes in the cultivation of the 
farm. 

A. C. Richardson, of the Third Texas cavalry, 
is authority for the following interesting history. 
He was with the expedition. He is a cultured 
gentleman of unquestioned veracity. 

General Ross's camp was about twenty-five 
miles distant from this quiet and ostensibly se- 
cure seat of agricultural felicity. Early in April, 
1864, after this luxurious scene of peaceful hus- 
bandry had been much advanced. General Ross 
sent the Third Texas cavalry with another regi- 
ment of his brigade to somewhat molest the felic- 
ity surrounding this farm. The expedition was 
attended with some degree of hazard and danger 
as the farm was not far from Vicksburg, where 
quite a force of Federal soldiers were stationed, 
from which reinforcements could be drawn on 
very short notice. 

The bugle call to boots and saddles in the Con- 
federate camp came just before noon, and by that 
hour the expedition filed out of camp, the Third 
and Ninth Texas under the command of Colonel 
D. Jones, of the Ninth, who was about twenty- 
one years of age, but a veteran in the service who 
well knew how to handle men in saddles. At day- 
light next morning Richardson's company (F) 
being in advance, they crossed a bridge spanning 
a creek near the farm. The noise in crossing the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 147 

bridge aroused the colored regiment guarding 
the farm, and a call to arms in the enemy's camp 
was heard. After Company F had crossed it was 
halted and formed in line, whilst the remainder 
formed in line of battle on the opposite bank of 
the creek. In this position they awaited the ad- 
vance of the enemy. The woods was dense, and 
the road beyond the bridge fifty yards distant 
crooked abruptly, so the enemy had to approach 
within fifty yards before coming in view. 

A company of negro cavalry soon appeared, at 
the head of which was the flag bearer, with a 
large black flag, on which was inscribed in white 
letters, "No quarters." When they came in sight 
they halted and a few in front fired wild without 
doing any damage. Their fire was returned by 
Company F, and several fell from their saddles. 
The order was given to flank and get in their 
rear, whilst the troops on the opposite side of the 
bridge crossed over. 

As we have before stated the Texans were the 
best horsemen in the world, and Company F soon 
cut them off from their regiment and held them 
until the whole force came up and surrounded 
and killed the whole company of the black flag, 
numbering about seventy-five. Whilst this bloody 
work was in progress the colored regiment and 
white regiment occupied the crest of two hills in 
full view, but neither came to the rescue of the 
black flag. 

The Texans then set fire to the steam gin and 
mill and outhouses, and retreated in safety across 
th creek without losing a man or horse. Good 
generalship required a retreat before the enemy 



148 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

with superior numbers from Vicksburg could get 
in their rear and cut off their return to camp. 

"He who lives by the sword shall die by the 
sword/' They chose their own mode of death 
and it was justly accorded. But the deluded 
blacks were not responsible for the black flag. 
With the power behind the throne rests all the re- 
sponsibility. The negroes were simply pliant 
tools in their hands. The power behind the 
throne inaugurated this servile war, and on them 
just criticism lays a heavy hand, and posterity 
will render a just verdict. 

There was nothing more prominent in the po- 
litical life of President Lincoln than his oft re- 
peated declarations that the constitution pro- 
tected slavery in the states, and that it was wrong 
to assail it in the states where it was established 
by law and protected by the constitution ; that his 
efforts and that of the party he represented 
would be limited to its exclusion from the terri- 
tories. And when elected president he com- 
menced his administration by assuring all the 
people of all the states that he would not molest 
the institution of slavery as it existed in the 
south, and he solemnly pledged himself and party 
to adhere to that policy when he took the oath of 
office and covenanted to respect and enforce con- 
stitutional rights and restraints. But those 
declarations and the most solemn covenants that 
man can assume or impose on himself were swept 
away in the emancipation proclamation and the 
arming of slaves against their masters. 

Whilst all accord to President Lincoln his 
full mede of greatness and fame, many refuse to 
bow to hero worship. The assumption that eman- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 149 

cipation was a "military necessity'^ rests upon a 
violent presumption, unsupported by facts, the 
logic of events, or that law and morality which 
ought to be the basis of every civilized govern- 
ment. 

But for the sake of argument admit that polit- 
ical covenants and ethics are not entitled to 
recognition in war — a violent presumption. This 
admission throws us back on the facts without 
the aid of ethics, covenants or presumption. 

What are the cold unsympathetic facts? The 
muster rolls of the United States show that they 
put two millions and six hundred and ninety 
thousand men in the field, including, accord- 
ing to the estimate of Mr. Stanton, President 
Lincoln's secretary of war, one hundred thousand 
negroes. But he was mistaken as to the number 
of armed negroes in the field. A more careful in- 
vestigation shows that one hundred and seventy- 
eight thousand negro soldiers were carried on the 
rolls at the conclusion of the war. Then a con- 
servative and approximate estimate of the whole 
number of negroes in the army, from the first to 
last, could scarcely have been less than two hun- 
dred thousand, which is a concession in favor of 
the presumption we combat. Deducting the negro 
element from the Federal army, we have without 
them one million eight hundred and ninety 
thousand men in the Federal army, with which 
they contended against six hundred thousand 
men, all told, from first to last, in the Confed- 
erate army. This gives the Federal armies an 
excess of one million eight hundred and ninety 
thousand soldiers more than the Confederates 
ever had in the field or could put in the field. 



150 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

With the estimate of this overpowering fact, 
we must take into consideration another tremen- 
dous factor in aid of Federal prestige over the 
Confederate States. The north had access to the 
world to draw on for every element of support, 
whilst the Confederate States were effectually- 
blockaded and excluded from all the marts and 
commerce of the world — an advantage in favor 
of the north greatly overbalancing the advantages 
of a defensive over an invading army. Then to 
say or assume that emancipation was a military 
necessity is either to assume that northern pa- 
triotism and heroism was greatly inferior to that 
of the south, or to slap reason based on the logic 
of facts in the face to support a violent presump- 
tion. Patriotism and martial courage of the 
north has never been questioned by well in- 
formed men. This is not advanced in defense of 
the institution of slavery. Simply as an insti- 
tution it is defenseless; and the argument in 
justification of the methods by which its emanci- 
pation was accomplished is equally defenseless. 
When solemn compacts rooted in organic sanc- 
tions are violated by the hand of power, it at- 
tests a derogation in public spirit to be regretted, 
and clouds the renown of achievement. 



A. C. RICHAEDSON'S EXPERIENCE AS A 
PRISONER OF WAR. 



It requires good judgment and generalship to 
successfully cover a hasty retreat when hotly 
pursued by a victorious enemy of greatly 
superior numbers. Such conditions almost 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 151 

invariably involve the sacrifice of some for 
the safety of others. Richardson was caught 
in the grasp of this necessity immediately after 
the battle of Corinth, whilst the retreating Con- 
federates were crossing Hatche river at different 
points, over narrow bridges, whilst the rear 
guard, one of which he was, was holding the 
enemy in check. Whilst on the rear firing line 
the Federals flanked and cut some of the Confed- 
erates off from the bridge over which they had 
to retreat. Sore, weary and sick on the eve of 
that fearful day, Richardson, with about twenty 
others, was captured by the Second Iowa and 
Third Michigan cavalry, of Colonel Hatch's com- 
mand. 

Upon being marched to the headquarters of 
Colonel Hatch, some miles to the rear, the pris- 
oners lay down under the fostering foliage of a 
mammoth oak, most of them ragged and bare- 
footed, with sore and bleeding feet — a spectacle 
which will forever attest their lofty patriotism 
and sublime courage as long as the noble and 
heroic virtues are admired by mankind. 

If General Armstrong of the rear guard had 
not been successful in discovering another bridge 
across Hatche river, a large number of the Con- 
federates would have been captured. As it was 
only five hundred were captured. 

Such men, under such unfortunate conditions, 
always excite and bring into active play the sym- 
pathy and generosity of noble natures. One of 
these noble and generous natures, in the uniform 
of a Federal major, stood some rods away with 
arms folded across his breast, intensely survey- 
ing that little ragged suffering group of patriots. 



152 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

His noble countenance indicated the cultured 
gentleman of refinement. Major Koonse, of the 
Second Iowa cavalry, stepped forward to the root 
of the tree where the sick and suffering Richard- 
son lay, and asked : 

^^What command do you belong to?" 

"^^The Third Texas," was the response. 

^^You are the first of the Texas troops we have 
had the honor to capture," said the major. "How 
many of this squad belong to Texas commands?" 

"Only myself and one other." 

"You appear to be sick and very much fa- 
tigued." 

"Yes; but it is one of the many contingencies 
of war," responded the cultured and chivalrous 
Texan. 

"If you will give me your word that you will 
not try to escape, I will take you to my tent and 
make you as comfortable as I can," said the chi- 
valrous major. 

"I give you my word, which I value as much 
as I do the loyalty of a soldier. A traitor to 
honor would disgrace any other relation of life," 
responded the prisoner. 

The major then ordered the other prisoners to 
be well fed and well treated in every respect, and 
took Richardson to his tent. He gave him a 
small flask of fine brandy, saying: 

"It will do you good as a medicine in your 
feeble, exhausted condition." 

Then the major ordered and had served under 
the fly of his own tent a good repast, which con- 
tributed greatly to the comfort of the Texan, 
over whom no guard was placed. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 153 

Such scenes as this do honor to the victor more 
than the loftiest courage on the battlefield, and 
the recipient of that noble generosity would have 
perished rather than have violated the confidence 
reposed in him. It is ever thus with truly noble 
natures ; but vast armies contain too many pain- 
ful exceptions to the higher type of soldiers. 

General Hatch commanded the brigade of cav- 
alry to whose tent the major took his prisoner 
next morning. The general treated him with the 
same polite consideration, and it is with un- 
feigned pleasure the prisoner pays this tribute to 
the moral worth of these soldiers. 

General E. W. Rucker, of General Forrest's 
command, was painfully wounded with a broken 
arm in one of the last battles around Nashville, 
Tenn., and was taken to the headquarters of Gen- 
eral Hatch, who gave up his own bed to the 
wounded soldier, and General Rucker pays Gen- 
eral Hatch a high tribute, and says, "God biess 
him.'' 

Next day the prisoners were taken to Corinth, 
where they remained one week, after which those 
who desired it were paroled and conducted to a 
point near the Confederate lines, and on the first 
of December were exchanged. 

But there was a noble and a painful episode 
connected with this parole of Confederate pris- 
oners. Two hundred Confederate prisoners were 
paroled at this time, captured from various com- 
mands at different times, including Richardson. 
When the prisoners left Corinth to be conducted 
to their own lines the noble paroling officer, 
whose name has in the flight of years escaped 
memory, drew the prisoners up in line and ad- 



154 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

dressed them in language which ought to live as 
long as our literature is preserved. He was 
colonel of an Illinois regiment. Addressing the 
prisoners, he said : 

"I have an unpleasant duty to perform, which 
may be unpleasant to all of you who value as an 
inestimable jewel the honor of a true soldier. I 
am informed that there are those among you 
who desire to embrace this opportunity to desert 
their colors by taking the oath of allegiance to 
the United States and returning to their homes 
within the Federal lines. To such I feel impelled 
to say that whilst it has been made my duty to 
facilitate such desertion, that a soldier by act of 
desertion has in every age and with every people 
stamped his name and character with indelible 
and ineffable infamy." 

Fifteen or twenty had applied for permission 
to take the oath of allegiance, but after listening 
to and weighing that noble speech, but one 
stepped forward to take the oath of allegiance. 
One hundred and ninety-nine stood firm to their 
colors as the rock of Gibraltar. One prisoner 
from an Alabama regiment stepped forward and 
took the oath of allegiance, with his head bowed 
and face covered with shame, and in broken, al- 
most incoherent language, said: 

"My wife is in Memphis. I have not seen her 
for a long time." 

The ancient Saxon roots of our language are 
not half strong enough to express the contempt 
with which the deserter was covered. 

Richardson said: 

"But few of us have seen our loved ones since 
we entered the army. We love and revere our 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 155 

wives above every earthly consideration, save 
that of a soldier's honor. And if we thought our 
wives would be willing to receive a deserter in 
their arms, and bear him children, we would 
perish rather than return to them." 

The colonel then stepped up to him, heartily 
shook his hand, and said : 

"I honor you, noble soldier, for entertaining 
and courageously expressing such convictions.'' 



LUDICROUS MISTAKE OF A JOLLY 
FEDERAL SOLDIER. 



Richardson, who possesses a keen sense of 
serio-comic phases of life, relates the following 
amusing incident which occurred near New Hope 
church, on Johnson's retreat from Dalton to At- 
lanta. 

After the battle at Dalton the Confederate 
lines were drawn in, and it was necessary to close 
a vacant space in the line on a high hill. To ac- 
complish that much desired object General Ross's 
Texas brigade of cavalry was dismounted to act 
as infantry in the occupation of that hill to close 
the Confederate lines. Very soon after dark, 
when their movements could not be detected by 
the enemy, the brigade was marched to the hill 
in silence, where they formed in line of battle 
and lay down on their arms ready at a moment's 
warning for emergencies. The night was exceed- 
ingly dark. At the foot of the hill ran a clear 
stream of water. 

The Federals also regarded that hill as a strat- 
agetic point, and about an hour after it was occu- 



156 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

pied by the Confederates several regiments of 
Federal infantry was marched very quietly to 
the hill, where they formed a line of battle and 
lay down within fifty yards of the Confederate 
line, without the least suspicion of their pres- 
ence. 

Presently a Federal soldier rose up and said: 

"I am thirsty, and am going to the creek for 
water. If any of my company want their can- 
teens filled, I will take them with me and accom- 
modate as many as I can.'' 

The rattling of canteens was heard all along 
the line of Confederates and down the hill as the 
thirsty soldier advanced to the creek. The Con- 
federates were as silent as death. 

Presently the soldier with a load of canteens 
started up the hill, but lost his way in the dark- 
ness and came up a few rods in the rear of the 
Confederate line, and called out in a voice audi- 
ble on both lines : 

"Where is the Thirtieth Indiana? I have lost 
my bearings in the dark." 

One of the Texas soldiers, in a low voice, just 
loud enough to be heard by the lost gentleman of 
the Thirtieth Indiana, said: 

"Here we are ! crawl in here by my side. Don't 
make the least noise. The rebels are in front 
of us." 

The gentleman with the canteens lowered his 
body to mother earth, and crawled in line by the 
Texan, when the latter said: 

"You are my prisoner. If you make a particle 
of noise I will run my knife through you." 

The gentleman of the Thirtieth Indiana whis- 
pered back and said : 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 157 

"This is the d st and cheapest sell out I 

ever heard of. Have a drink of good fresh water, 
Johnnie Eeb. I wish I had something stronger 
to offer you." 

For some unknown cause the Federals, in 
silence, withdrew a short time after this amusing 
episode. If they had remained until daylight a 
bloody scene would have occurred. 

The gentleman from the Thirtieth Indiana was 
a lively, jolly good soldier, and laughed heartily 
over his mistake. All the Texans liked him. 



A DESPERATE CHOICE DECIDED IN THE 
SMALLEST FRACTION OP TIME. 



During the siege of Atlanta a brigade, includ- 
ing the Third Texas cavalry, dismounted, was 
drawn up in line of battle in a beautiful meadow 
through which a deep draining ditch had been 
cut, which was concealed by a growth of tall 
weeds. 

Whilst thus drawn up they were charged by a 
strong regiment of Federal cavalry ; and to avoid 
the blow of the heavy onslaught, the brigade took 
shelter in the ditch, and dropped out of sight 
until the charging column came within a few 
rods before receiving the Confederate fire from 
the ditch, which emptied many saddles. 

In that position the Confederates were 
crowded, and elbowed each other. One of the 
privates immediately sprang out of the ditch, 
faced the cavalry not fifty yards distant, killed 
the rider in front of him, and escaped unhurt. 
His comrades were much surprised at his strange 



158 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

conduct, and when asked for an explanation, he 
said: 

"When I squatted in the ditch, with no room 
to right or left, a large moccasin snake was 
coiled up in front of me, and darted his tongue 
in my face. I preferred to take my chances with 
an enemy where I had some show; I had none 
with the snake.'' 

This story much resembles that told of a Texan 
in an early day, who, when hunting buffalo on 
the prairie, strayed off some distance from his 
comrades and wounded the master of the herd. 
The wounded animal took after him, and he was 
forced to run for his life, his comrades looking 
on enjoying the speed he developed. All at once 
he jumped into a sinkhole, but in an instant re- 
gained the surface and resumed his chances with 
the buffalo. His comrades then spurred their 
horses, came to his relief and killed the desperate 
animal. All were anxious to learn why he so 
suddenly left such a safe retreat. His explana- 
tion was that he jumped down on the back of a 
huge bear, and preferred taking his chances with 
the buffalo. 



SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN FED- 
ERAL CURRENCY CAPTURED. 



When Van Dorn raided Holly Springs, Miss., 
one million dollars in Federal currency was cap- 
tured. Similar experience at Shiloh sharpened 
the wit and encouraged the avarice of William 
Pennington, a private in the Third Texas cav- 
alry, with A. C. Richardson, who reports the 
husbandry of his comrade. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 159 

In the hurry, confusion and bustle incident to 
the capture of the town, after the surrender, 
when the fighting was at an end, and immedi- 
ately thereafter, Pennington bethought of the 
paymaster's department. He rushed to it, forced 
the officer in charge to open his treasure box 
which contained sixty thousand dollars. Instead 
of handing it over to General Van Dorn or any 
other official, he concluded that Mr. Pennington 
was the best and safest bank of deposit, and that 
silence was as often a factor in wealth as in wis- 
dom. At all events, whatever the process leading 
him to practical conclusions, he kept the treasure 
and the secret until his blooming prosperity 
pointed to the fact that something had favored 
him at Holly Springs, which practically lifted 
him out of the service. 

He rode the finest horses, decked himself in 
the finest plumage blockade runners brought 
into port, and became a Chesterfield instead of 
a soldier. But by hook or crook, as cunningly 
managed as Bret Harte's Heathen Chinee man- 
aged his cards, he was carried on the muster roll, 
and reported semi-occasionally, but never drew a 
bead or pulled a trigger during the remainder 
of the war. 



MAJOR GENERAL JOHN H. MORGAN'S 
LAST CAMPAIGN. 



On the fouth of July, 1864, General Morgan 
left his camp at Abington, Va., with two thou- 
sand three hundred mounted and seven hundred 
dismounted men, with Colonel Giltner in com- 



1 60 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

mand of the Fourth Kentucky cavalry, with 
whom Captain John H. Thomas, of Company A, 
served. Lieutenant Colonel Martin commanded 
the dismounted men. 

On the evening of the fifth of July the com- 
mand arrived at Pound Gap in the Cumberland 
mountains, and found it guarded by five hundred 
Federals, who could have held it if they had 
made resolute defense, but they fled at the first 
fire of the advance guard and rejoined the main 
body of the Federal army eight thousand strong, 
who had left their headquarters at Mount Ster- 
ling, Ky., and were on the march into east Ten- 
nessee and eastern Virginia, leaving their head- 
quarters and base of supplies at Mount Sterling, 
one hundred miles distant from Pound Gap, in 
the mountains. One of the chief objects of Gen- 
eral Morgan was to drive back this force and 
prevent its junction with Burnside's corps, who 
was then pressing General Longstreet in east 
Tennessee. A secondary object was to mount his 
dismounted men with horses to be captured from 
the enemy, and to secure ammunition, of which 
his command was very short. 

From Pound Gap Morgan proceeded with 
forced marches to Mount Sterling and reached 
that point on the evening of the eighth of July, 
and found it defended with about two thousand 
Federal soldiers. He immediately charged the 
enemy, and with but little loss captured fifteen 
hundred prisoners, one thousand horses, abun- 
dance of stores, equipage, arms, ammunition and 
provisions in abundance. Here General Mor- 
gan divided his command and hurried on by 
forced marches by way of Winchester to Lexing- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. i6i 

ton, Ky. The other division he left in camp at 
Mount Sterling, the mounted men in command 
of Colonel Giltner, of the Fourth Kentucky, and 
the seven hundred dismounted men in command 
of Lieutenant Colonel Martin, who was to mount 
his men with the captured horses; a brave but 
impetuous soldier, who seemed possessed of more 
courage than cool judgment under fire. The 
thousand captured horses were in a woods lot 
adjoining Mount Sterling, to be guarded until 
next morning by the dismounted men. The 
mounted men slept in the tents captured from 
the Federals. 

It was known that all the Federals marching 
to recruit Burnside's army in Tennessee had re- 
traced their steps and were in pursuit of Mor- 
gan's men. Under these conditions it was assum- 
ing too much risk to remain in Mount Sterling 
the night of the eighth with such a small force. 
Colonel Giltner, who commanded the mounted 
men, and Lieutenant Colonel Martin, who com- 
manded the dismounted men, disagreed. Martin, 
with more vehemence than caution, insisted that 
there was no danger in camping at Mount Ster- 
ling that night. Colonel Giltner advised imme- 
diate advance, following General Morgan's divi- 
sion; but gave way to Martin and went into 
camp, but hurried on the fifteen hundred prison- 
ers. Captain Thomas, who was always as good 
at the council board as he was in battle, was very 
pronounced in his belief that the division ought 
to follow as rapidly as possible after General 
Morgan, because they knew that eight thousand 
Federals were in striking distance, and if prop- 
erly handled would capture or greatly distress 



1 62 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

them. But feast and fight, if necessary, was the 
order of the night, to be completely surprised 
and roused before daylight with the rattle of 
musketry, and one of the severest fights of the 
war between the states for the numbers engaged. 
If this battle has ever passed into careful his- 
tory, it has escaped the writer's attention and 
that of Captain Thomas. Hence it is given here. 

Seven or eight thousand Federals in hot pur- 
suit of the rear division of Morgan's small army 
compared to that was enough to cause the grave 
apprehension felt by Captain Thomas and his 
colonel, and the captain, although much in need 
of rest, slept but one hour that night. 

At the first flashes of light in the morning of 
the ninth he heard heavy firing on the picket line, 
jumped from his bed, and gave the alarm to the 
sleeping soldiers; then he saddled his horse 
and mounted and formed his company in 
line as fast as possible. By this time bullets 
from the rapid fire of the enemy were crashing 
through the Confederate camp before they 
mounted and formed into line. Martin's division 
of seven hundred dismounted men in the wood- 
land pasture was also attacked severely at the 
same time, and the prospect was anything but 
promising. At that time Colonel Martin's men 
were falling fast. The houses in the town and 
suburbs afforded much protection to the sur- 
prised Confederates whilst they were forming 
and recovering from the panic of surprise, but 
they were old veterans and knew how to face 
danger in all of its phases. 

The Federals were massing on Martin's men 
in the woods lot, endeavoring to cut them off, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 163 

with every prospect of success. At this juncture 
Thomas with six hundred cavalry was ordered 
to Martin's relief and to charge the enemy, and 
he repeatedly charged through and broke their 
lines and held them in check until the Confed- 
erate lines could be formed in the most advan- 
tageous position, the Federals then being in full 
possession of the town. The Confederates dis- 
mounted and formed behind a stake and ridered 
fence on the outskirts of the town, and the Fed- 
erals formed behind another stake and ridered 
fence one hundred yards distant from the Con- 
federates, with three times the number of the 
former, and they maintained the battle with the 
coolness and heroism of veterans. They fought 
for more than one hour in this position. Captain 
Thomas being in the center of the line. He had 
lost fifty men in charging the enemy before dis- 
mounting; not all out of his company, but out 
of the men he led in the charge. 

Bravery, without judgment in skillful manage- 
ment, is often disastrous. At this juncture the 
impetuous Martin gave the order to mount the 
high fence and charge the enemy behind the 
fence one hundred yards distant, an open space 
intervening, one of the most ill advised orders, 
under the cifcumstances, ever given on a battle- 
field. 

Thomas said to his men : 

^'Boys, this is rough and unwise, but we must 
obey orders." 

Six men were killed on top of the fence, three 
times as many more wounded, and fifty more 
were killed on the charge. The Federals stood 
their ground until the Confederates got within 



164 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

ten feet of the fence, then they broke for another 
shelter. A large number broke through a paled 
fence into a garden, and in the utmost pell mell 
confusion crowded together, and the Confeder- 
ates killed eighty Federals in that garden. This 
was in the suburbs of the town. The Federals 
soon rallied behind houses, fences, outhouses and 
everything that afforded the least protection, and 
then recommenced the battle like veterans. 

Then came another order which Captain 
Thomas refused to obey. Martin ordered a re- 
treat under a heavy fire from the enemy. The 
Confederates were lying down, firing through the 
fence, but Captain Thomas, as commanding of- 
ficer on that part of the line, stood up all the 
time so he could command the best view^ and 
direct his men to the best advantage. He replied 
to Martin's order that he would lose half of his 
men in retreating through that open space, and 
that he would maintain his position until the 
enemy checked up in their fire. 

That awful tableau of war represented the 
hope and the despair of life. There was a small 
locust tree, four inches in diameter, in the center 
of the Confederate line, behind which Captain 
Thomas stood whilst giving orders to his men, 
who were lying down whilst they loaded and 
fired. That tree was nearly cut in two by the 
minnie balls from the enemy, and the captain's 
hat was shorn of the rim by the hailstorm of lead, 
and it appears miraculous that he escaped. An 
officer, the only man standing on the line, he was 
a conspicuous mark and drew that concentration 
of fire. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 165 

There were six men named John in Company 
A, Fourth cavalry, and five of them were killed 
in that charge on the enemy behind the fence. 
Lieutenant Mac Mitchel, of the Fourth, lying 
down, shooting through the cracks of the fence, 
with his command, was careless in exposing him- 
self. Captain Thomas, who was standing within 
a few feet of him, admonished him to be more 
careful in exposing himself, and said to him : 

"You will be shot in less than five minutes, if 
you are not more careful.'' 

He replied : 

"I reckon not. I am not half as much exposed 
as you are standing behind that locust sapling. 
Why don't you lie down and take better care of 
yourself?" 

The captain said: 

"My place is to stand here and survey the field, 
and look out for all." 

In a moment the lieutenant was hit in the 
mouth, and half of his lip cut off and his front 
teeth knocked out. He shook his head from side 
to side, with a gagging, strangling cough, and 
blood flowing from his mouth profusely. Pres- 
ently he staggered to his feet, and walked back 
one hundred yards to the fence in the rear, with 
bullets flying like hail around him, and yet was 
not again hit. He climbed the fence, went to a 
residence, and was received and taken care of. 
He was taken prisoner, and a month after, whilst 
in a Federal hospital, the ball dropped out of the 
roof of his mouth. He was exchanged and re- 
joined his command, with that ball hanging as a 
fob to his watch chain. 



1 66 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

The enemy's fire slackened, which indicated a 
movement necessary to be known at once. Cap- 
tain Thomas mounted the fence and discovered 
the enemy making a flank movement, and in- 
stantly communicated the intelligence along the 
line, and the order was given to retreat to their 
horses and mount as soon as possible. The dis- 
mounted men, who had suffered very severely, 
were placed in front, and the command hastened 
away on the pike leading to Lexington, after hav- 
ing lost about two hundred and fifty men, the 
thousand horses, and all the provisions and every, 
thing they had captured the previous evening, ex- 
cept the fifteen hundred prisoners, which they 
had hurried on the previous night. They had, 
with all the courage of heroic veterans, quickly 
recovered from a panic created by very sudden 
surprise when attacked in rear and front, whilst 
the army was asleep ; had fought desperately for 
three hours without losing an inch of ground 
after their line of battle was formed; and they 
fought a force four times greater than their own. 

Martin, to whom ranking officers gave way in 
council the previous night, for fear that if they 
retreated without giving battle, his report to Gen- 
eral Morgan would be detriipental to their cour- 
age and judgment, was as brave as Caesar, but his 
impetuosity blinded his judgment and brought on 
the disaster at Mount Sterling. But Colonel 
Giltner is not free from criticism in suffering 
himself overruled by a subordinate officer. It 
may also be questioned whether General Morgan 
acted with the best judgment in dividing his com- 
mand at Mount Sterling, when eight thousand 
Federals were on his heels in hot pursuit. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 167 

Their ammunition was nearly exhausted in 
that disastrous battle, and in the pressure of 
much limited time it was decided to place Cap- 
tain Thomas in command of the rear guard with 
nearly all of the disposable ammunition, and to 
retreat or advance — you may call it either — as 
fast as possible on the pike road leading to Lex- 
ington, where they expected to form a junction 
with General Morgan. The road was enclosed 
by high farm fences on either side, which afforded 
much advantage in protecting them from flank 
movement and concentration of the pursuing 
forces, and enabled the rear guard to resist the 
forward pressure with as many men as the enemy 
could mass on the narrow road. 

But there are always indiscreet fools in 
every large body of men. Some of the men in 
front, without ammunition, stopped for water 
along the road and lamented in the presence of 
citizens the want of ammunition. This was told 
by the citizens to Captain Thomas when he came 
up with his fighting rear guard, and the pursu- 
ing Federals obtained the same information and 
redoubled their pressure. 

The rear guard fought back the pursuers until 
dark, when Captain Thomas displayed the mas- 
ter qualities of a general by cutting the telegraph 
wires and stretching them firmly across the road, 
so as to admit a horse to pass under at full speed 
in the dark minus his rider. Then he let the 
fence down at front and rear of this fatal ob- 
struction, so his men could dodge around the 
wire and back into the road. Then with eight 
men, faced about and galloped back to the ad- 
vancing enemy and fired two rounds into them, 



1 68 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

then wheeled and ran back behind the wire, 
where he had one hundred men in position on 
both sides of the road to slaughter the enemy 
when their horses ran under the wire at full 
speed, dragging them off and breaking the necks 
of many, and disabling every man who ran 
against it. Here they fell in heaps, barricading 
the road, and two hundred of their horses ran 
on down the pike, and were captured and given 
to the dismounted men in front under Lieutenant 
Colonel Martin. Here the pursuit ended, and 
the much distressed little army marched on as 
quietly as a May-day party to Lexington, where 
they found General Morgan in possession of one- 
half of the city, the Federals holding the other 
half with batteries of artillery, which they could 
not use against the Confederates in that position 
because of houses intervening occupied by citi- 
zens. Morgan had captured horses enough to 
mount all of his dismounted men, but he was 
not strong enough to hold his position against 
overwhelming numbers. 

From Lexington General Morgan proceeded 
north by way of Georgetown and Cynthiana to 
east Tennessee, still without sufficient ammuni- 
tion, although well mounted. Captain Thomas 
was again placed in command of the rear guard. 
When he came near Georgetown, looking ahead 
up the pike he saw several wagons in the road 
and many soldiers crowding around them, dip- 
ping down with their canteens. On riding up he 
found that the citizens had hauled out four bar- 
rels of fine Bourbon whiskey for the soldiers, 
and that every man was crowding up to fill his 
canteen with the refreshing beverage. He did 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. i6g 

not stop them, because it was a treat the soldiers 
did not often get. Besides, it was a hospitable 
drink at most sideboards in Kentucky, and the 
captain took some of the hospitality himself, but 
not enough to impart more than the needed stim- 
ulus. In this crowd of flashing canteens ap- 
peared William Vaughees, an old bachelor sol- 
dier, noted for never curbing his thirst for the 
overjoyful. But he had a holy horror of being 
captured by the Yankees, as he called all Federal 
soldiers. 

The captain said to him : 

"William, you know your failing; you had 
better let that Bourbon severely alone. You 
know as well as I do that eight thousand Fed- 
erals are on our heels. If you get drunk I will 
be compelled to leave you in the fence corner, 
where you will be found napping and snoring in 
the sun so soundly that a cannon fired over you 
would not wake you." 

"Please risk old Bill one time and accept his 
honor as a pledge, that the Yanks will never get 
their paws on him either in or out of his cups." 

The horror at being captured was stronger 
than thirst for drink, and old Bill refrained. 
True to his pledge, old Bill had that canteen of 
Bourbon when the command arrived at Liberty 
Hill, Va., then the only sip in the camp. Here 
the command was resting up and recruiting the 
exhausted strength of man and beast. With a 
smile and twinkling wink of the eye old Bill 
went up to the captain and asked him to smell 
the canteen and how he would enjoy a sip. The 
captain said: 



lyo Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"Yes, Bill; I can enjoy a smile with you. I 
have not had a drink since we left Georgetown." 

With a shrug of the shoulders old Bill replied : 

"Nary time, cap. There is just enough for 
one and not enough for two. If I were to give it 
to you I would be compelled to leave you in the 
fence corner where the Yanks would get you. I 
am going off to myself to interview myself. You 
know I am one canteen behind all the boys. 
They took their's straight at Georgetown, but I'll 
catch up at Liberty Hill." 

And off old Bill went to catch up. He was a 
true and brave soldier. May the sod rest lightly 
over his grave. 

When the command arrived at Oynthiana they 
had a breakfast job on hand. Five hundred cit- 
izen militia had drawn themselves up in a beau- 
tiful grove near that town, with drum and fife, 
ball and powder, to annihilate John Morgan and 
end the war at once. General Morgan ordered 
the Fourth cavalry to charge the militia, and 
many men demurred to the order because they 
had no ammunition. Captain Thomas told them 
he did not want any ammunition to fight the 
militia — that a cavalry charge and the wild rebel 
yell was more than they could stand. 

They charged, the militia threw down their 
guns, fell down on their backs and hallooed, "For 
God's sake, don't shoot! We surrender." And 
they captured every man with their arms and 
much needed ammunition. Not a Confederate 
was hurt, and none of the heroic militia was 
hurt, except those trampled on by the horses. 

The Federals were still following them and 
the command hurried on, with Captain Thomas 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. I'ji 

in the rear with fifteen hundred prisoners and a 
small squad to guard them. When Thomas ar- 
rived with the prisoners at South Licking river 
he found the bridge burned down and very deep 
fording for horses. He crossed over on horse- 
back and told the prisoners if they would wade 
or swim over he would parole all of them. They 
all came over and received their paroles, and 
were profuse in the expression of thanks and 
gratitude, and begged him to name some favor 
they might extend him. He said that he would 
accept a few United States postage stamps if 
they had any, as he was often where he could 
not mail a letter to come within the Federal lines 
without such postage, and they filled his hat 
with the stamps. 

The advance guards of the enemy were then 
in sight, and not one of those paroled prisoners 
desired to meet their own army. They jumped 
the fences to the right and left and hurried off 
through the fields to get away, and Captain 
Thomas with his body guard hurried to catch 
up and rejoin his command. He was forced to 
parole the prisoners there rather than to incur 
the imminent risk of their recapture by the Fed- 
erals. They continued their march with but oc- 
casional skirmishes until they reached Moss 
creek, a tributary of the Holston river, in east 
Tennessee, meeting occasionally a Federal home 
guard, charging and dispersing them like chaff 
before the wind, without paying any further 
compliment to that travesty on war. They 
stopped on the shady banks of Moss creek to 
rest up and recruit horses and riders. The Fed- 
erals, nearly always at their heels, established a 



172 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

camp of observation three miles distant in the 
Holston valley, within supporting distance of 
their main army. The Confederate outpost un- 
der command of Colonel Giltner, with his Fourth 
Kentucky cavalry, numbered about six hundred 
men. This was in August, 1864. The dashing 
General John H. Morgan, with the remainder of 
his command, hurried on to Greenville, Tenn., 
where he met his tragic death at the hand of an 
assassin, who had deserted from the Confederate 
army, an authentic account of which the author 
has given in another place. 

Here we must state that Colonel Giltner had 
been promoted for efficiency and gallantry with 
the commission of a brigadier general. Whilst 
he was staioned at Moss creek watching the 
enemy the camp was visited by four young Con- 
federate officers from another command, viz., 
Captain Peyton, Captain Moore, Major Goforth, 
and Major Chenowith. All were young, chival- 
rous, brave and dashing officers, and all were 
well armed and mounted on the best horses from 
the blue grass region of Kentucky. 

The enemy's post of observation was very an- 
noying to the Confederate scouts and foraging 
parties, and General Giltner resolved to storm 
the outpost and break it up. The visitors above 
named volunteered to go along and see the fun, 
as they put it. General Giltner cautiously took 
his position near the enemy, and a little after 
daybreak charged with his cavalry into their 
camp, broke through their lines, wheeled and de- 
manded a surrender. But the heroic commander 
of the outpost replied : 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 173 

"No, never! I am here to fight to the bitter 
end." 

The Federals then formed into a hollow square, 
and General Giltner, realizing that he could 
fight to much better advantage, dismounted his 
men, charged on the enemy and engaged them at 
close quarters. Both parties clubbed their guns 
in hand to hand contest, having no time in such 
close quarters to load and fire after the first dis- 
charge. The four visitors above named, who 
went to see the fun, remained on their horses and 
fought independently on any point of the line 
they chose. Captain Peyton, a tall muscular 
man of powerful physique, was near Captain 
Thomas when the latter was struck over the head 
with a Springfield rifle, and as the second blow 
was being aimed Peyton struck the captain's as- 
sailant dead with his sabre, and thus saved 
the captain's life. That blow indented the cap- 
tain's head, resulting eighteen years there- 
after in paralysis of one side of limb and body, 
but the captain yet survives to tell the writer 
how battles were founght and fields won. 

The enemy was beaten back several times, al- 
ways refusing to surrender, the visitors bravely 
participating. Being mounted, they discovered 
strong reinforcements coming to the aid of the 
enemy, and the four alone charged through their 
lines, to find themselves surrounded. They 
wheeled and charged through again, and reached 
the Confederate lines. But Major Chenowith 
was badly wounded. Major Goforth was mortally 
wounded and died the third day after, and Cap- 
tain Moore had an arm badly shattered. Not- 
withstanding these and many other disasters, 



174 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Captain Peyton came back to the Confederate 
lines laughing over the fun he had in charging 
forth and back. The enemy was driven across 
Moss creek, where they again formed. Here 
large reinforcements came to their rescue and 
General Giltner was forced to retire in the face 
of such overwhelming forces. 

It is much regretted that the name of the Fed- 
eral officer who fought so bravely and refused 
to surrender has not been ascertained by the 
writer, or Captain Thomas, from whom he has 
obtained so much data which has never before 
found its way into history. 

Next morning after that severe conflict an old 
citizen, who adhered to the Union cause, came 
to the Confederate camp and told the officers that 
the Federal general commanding the Union 
forces had ordered the officer commanding the 
outpost, who had fought them so bravely, court 
martialed for coAvardice. General Giltner then 
drew up a formal protest against such an unjust 
proceeding, in which he set forth the undaunted 
courage of the officer, and the great ability with 
which he commanded and handled his men in 
that conflict, and said that it would be a reproach 
on the Federal army to court martial a man for 
cowardice who ought to be promoted for bravery. 
This document was signed by every officer in the 
command. He sent this by the old citizen to Fed- 
eral headquarters, with a request that he report 
the result of that protest. The old man returned 
to camp soon thereafter with the assurance that 
the protest had the desired effect. 

The command then proceeded leisurely to the 
main division of the army and went into camp 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 175 

near Abingdon, Va. None of the Fourth Ken- 
tucky had heard from their families during the 
nine preceding months, and all were more than 
anxious to hear from home. For that purpose a 
small detail was made by Colonel Prior before 
leaving Kentucky, and they remained in camp 
awaiting the return of the messengers. 

Among the anxious was a young Benedict who 
was married amidst the scenes of war, and could 
not remain with his young and handsome wife 
but three or four days. None of all the command 
manifested more anxiety of mind than Ed 
Spencer to hear from the young Mrs. Spencer. 
Poor Ed had assumed a severe task — conflicting, 
harassing, distressing — to serve the god of war 
and the god of love at the same time, and it 
pressed heavily on Ed's heart and mind. Like 
other jealous husbands, he imagined that every 
man in the world could not avoid admiring his 
Sue as much as he did, and that during his ab- 
sence domestic calamity might overtake and de- 
stroy that flood of Elysian love he had for Sue. 
No man in the army desired half so much as Ed 
to hear from home. When the mail carriers 
came with a haversack well filled with letters 
from home, Ed reached his long sinewy arm over 
the shoulders of others for his letter. There was 
one from Sue. He walked off, took a seat at the 
root of a tree, broke the seal and read slowly 
with much deliberation. Captain Thomas took 
a seat on a log some fifteen or twenty feet to the 
rear of Ed, unobserved by the latter. When Ed 
finished the first reading he dropped the letter on 
the ground, raised his left hand and commenced 
counting on his fingers, back and forth. Stop- 



176 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

ping for contemplation, then going over the 
count again, he picked up the letter from his 
wife, reread it, and went through the count on 
his fingers again, dropping the letter on the 
ground the second and third time. By this time 
Captain Thomas' curiosity was aroused, and he 
sat still watching the strange movements of Ed, 
who picked up the letter the third time, reread it 
slowly, went through the fifth count on his fin- 
gers, and then said in a quite audible voice : 

"I reckon that will have to go this time ; but I 
don't want such close clipping any more, and it 
must not happen." 

Captain Thomas' curiosity impelled him to 
ask Ed the news from home, and he answered : 

"Wife writes that she has had a baby, and I 
was just counting the time it took her to be a 
mother, as I was gone just nine months." 

Too good to keep in camp, where absence of 
amusement at times made life irksome, poor 
Ed suffered in the flesh, every man in camp by 
turns counting and recounting on his fingers 
until poor Ed left the command. Jealousy, with 
or without foundation, is a monster of hideous 
mien, uprooting every sentiment of nobility in 
man, and tearing through his brain like a cyclone 
in the tropics. 



CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF A NO- 
TORIOUS BRIGAND. 



Harlan county, Kentucky, borders on the Vir- 
ginia line. Situated in that mountainous region, 
its physical conformation so well calculated to 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 177 

shelter brigands from the operations of regular 
armies, it became as famous during the war as 
the mountains of Italy for the thieving and mur- 
derous exploits of those godless demons who, 
under the assumption of being Union men, com- 
mitted every crime known to the calendar of de- 
moniac hellishness. Kape, arson, robbery and 
murder of the innocent were of common occur- 
rence. Herd, the sheriff of Harlan county at 
that time, sympathized with the south, and had 
to flee for his life to the Confederate army, sta- 
tioned then at Abingdon, Va., about twenty-five 
miles from the Kentucky line. He came into the 
lines at the time the Fourth Kentucky cavalry 
were in camp reading their letters above de- 
scribed, and asked for the protection of the army 
and an escort to the county seat, to which he 
wished to return to put the official business and 
records of his office in shape so as to protect him- 
self and sureties on his official bond as far as 
possible. 

Captain Thomas with his company of about 
eighty men was detailed to go back with Sheriff 
Herd. The captain's place was always at the 
head of his column, whether on the march or 
leading a charge, and there was no captain in 
the army in whom more confidence was reposed. 
Riding down a precipitous mountain road, ap- 
proaching a small valley in front, in the center 
of which was a little farm cabin, Captain 
Thomas, with the sheriff at his side, saw^ a man 
running at the top of his speed to the house, 
which he entered. Suspicion was aroused and 
Captain Thomas detailed two soldiers to capture 
and bring the suspicious character to him, with 



17^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

instructions to search the house for arms. They 
captured the man and found a small arsenal of 
arms deposited between the roof and rafters of 
the log cabin. 

As the detail approached the captain and 
sheriff with their prisoner, the sheriff, in an 
excited tone, exclaimed : 

^'My God, you have caught the notorious Hub- 
bard, who is perhaps the worst character the 
world ever knew.'' 

''What," said Captain Thomas. "Tell me 
something of his history. Such men must not 
escape. We once had the notorious Mosely, and 
turned him out of the bull pen before we knew 
his history. Have we captured his equal in 
crime?'' 

The sheriff again exclaimed : 

"My God! Yes, yes, yes. The ordinary crim- 
innl is but a travesty in crime compared to that 
man Hubbard." 

"Tell me again," said Captain Thomas. 

They had halted under the trees and many sol- 
diers rode up to learn the import of the capture. 
The sheriff proceeded to detail some of the cap- 
tive's crimes, and said: 

"Well, his crimes are so numerous I scarcely 
know where to begin to enumerate them. He is 
one of the leaders of a gang of outlaws. With 
his comrades in crime, not long since, he stole 
stealthily in the dark hours of night and sur- 
rounded the residence of a Mr. Middleton, a non- 
combatant citizen of irreproachable character, 
of southern sympathies. He captured him and 
proclaimed in the hearing of his wife and chil- 
dren that he intended to crucifv him like Christ 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 179 

was crucified by the Jews. His family's tearful 
entreaties to spare him were derided with laugh- 
ter and mockery w^hich would shame the demons 
of Dante's Inferno. They marched off with Mid- 
dleton, and at sunrise next morning they stood 
him up by a large square gate post and drove 
a bayonet through each side of their victim and 
pinioned him to the i)Ost, without causing death. 
They declared their intention to torture him to 
death by slow degrees so as to make his suffer- 
ings as great and long as possible. Then by turns 
the squad marched up and shot him through the 
legs and thighs and arms at intervals, and would 
then stand off and laugh and mock at his suffer- 
ing. In that awful suffering Middleton hallooed 
in the agony of pain. Then, to prevent his mak- 
ing any further noise, Hubbard stepped up to 
the sufferer with knife in hand, pulled out his 
tongue and cut it off at the roots, and stepped 
back and said: 

" ^Damn you ! halloo now if you can.' 

"And his crowd squaled in derision : 

" ^Can't you die like Christ and rise up again? 
Where is Jeff Davis, your god — call on him.' 

"The sickening details are too horrid to por- 
tray. He was tortured in this way for hours be- 
fore death came to his relief." 

The sheriff proceeded: 

"Hubbard robbed hundreds of defenseless 
women and children." 

The old fashioned domestic loom then adorned 
the residence of almost every family for a hun- 
dred miles around, and the ladies spun the yarn 
and wove the clothing for their families. Hub- 
bard detailed his robbers to spy out the habita- 



i8o Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

tions where weaving was going on, and when 
the product was finished would go in person and 
take it from them on both sides of the state line. 
Neither citizens of Virginia nor Kentucky for a 
radius of one hundred miles escaped. Demands 
on virtue to appease their lust were often made. 

While the sheriff was detailing these facts in 
the presence of the criminal, the wretch trem- 
bled like an aspen leaf and cowered like a span- 
iel, and his teeth rattled off a trombone of de- 
spair. The wrath of the soldiers who witnessed 
the scene rose in their hearts like a volcano in 
eruption. The relatives of some of them had 
been sufferers from his spoliations and they de- 
manded the instant death of the wretch. But 
Captain Thomas said: 

"No; his end will come soon enough through 
the legitimate regulations of war. We will guard 
him safely, take him to headquarters and give 
him a fair trial by court martial." 

This was done. Many witnesses were escorted 
from Harlan county, who testified to his innu- 
merable crimes. He was condemned to death and 
shot near Abingdon, Va. 

To meet and suppress or curb these maraud- 
ing bands of bushwhackers, thieves and mur- 
derers, who defied all the methods and usages of 
civilized warfare, the Confederate military au- 
thorities organized two companies of Cherokee 
Indians in North and South Carolina, and sent 
them to the mountains of Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia, to be officered by white soldiers who were 
familiar with the paths and recesses of the 
mountains. It was a warfare best adapted to 
Indian character and methods, and it was not 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. i8i 

long after the organization of this special arm 
of the service until its utility and restraining in- 
fluence was severely felt by lawless marauders, 
all of whom were arrant cowards in the face of 
danger. Brave and chivalrous men are never 
found in such organizations. It was not long 
until this Indian arm of the service, under the 
leadership of a white soldier, whose family and 
friends had greatly suffered, captured seven of 
the Hubbard men who had assisted in the torture 
of Middleton, as above stated. 

The officer in command of this Indian battal- 
ion, whose family and neighbors had suffered so 
much, was filled with the spirit of an avenging 
Nemesis. These criminals were not Federal sol- 
diers ; they were outlaws — enemies to the human 
race. Under the okl common law of England, 
as enforced in the days of Robin Hood, all men 
were justified and authorized to slay them wher- 
ever found. A principle in the early ages of 
common law clearly defined by that old and wise 
commentator, Sir Lionel Jenkins. He who de- 
fies the law and tramples on every guaranty and 
security it throws around the citizen, has no 
right to appeal to its beneficent provisions for 
protection. A doctrine now antiquated, it sleeps 
in the cobwebs of the past buried in the advance 

of a higher civilization. Captain H , who 

commanded these Indian scouts, took the law in 
his own hands after satisfactory proof of the 
crimes committed and the identity of the crim- 
inals. He made these seven criminals dig their 
own graves and shot them to death. Thus re- 
taliation came like the thunderbolts of Jove; 
and whilst it is to be regretted that justice and 



1 82 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

revenge came in that form and method, without 
the sanction of a legally constituted tribunal, yet 
when we remember their robberies and crimes 
and the suffering the criminals imposed on 
women and children and helples non-combatants, 
sympathy for the doom of the wretches will 
scarcely be brought into active play. 

A short time after these executions, Captain 
Thomas was again ordered with his company into 
Kentucky through Harlan county, the hotbed 
of the freebooters and bushwhackers. On this 
trip he rode up to a neat looking farm house 
with several of his men for dinner. They were 
treated to a sumptuous meal by the ladies of the 
house, who refused to accept pay for it. During 
the repast the captain's name was frequently 
mentioned by his comrades, none of whom knew 
the names of the ladies who treated them so 
kindly and sumptuously. When they went to 
leave the elder of the two ladies said : 

"This is Captain Thomas, I believe, who ar- 
rested Hubbard, the outlaw, and had him exe- 
cuted." 

The captain responded in the affirmative. And 
much to his embarrassment the lady said : 

"My sister there and I are his sisters ; but you 
must understand that he was the only black 
sheep in the flock, and that in our estimation 
you are not at all to blame. We expected him 
to come to that end long before he did. His 
brother and sisters often begged him to lead 
an honorable life and not disgrace his family. 
When you mention his name, please exonerate 
his family if you can." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 183 



CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF TEN 
THIEVES AND MURDERERS. 



The same conditions which existed in west 
Tennessee, northern Arkansas, eastern Kentucky 
and Missouri obtained to an alarming extent in 
western Virginia. Marauding bands, claiming 
to be soldiers in the Federal army, wearing the 
Federal uniform, roamed through many portions 
of western Virginia, robbing defenseless non- 
combatants and women and children, often ap- 
propriating the chastity of ladies, and threaten- 
ing to return and murder them if they made any 
complaint whatever. In many instances these 
threats, coupled with their defenseless condition 
and innate sense of modesty, caused many ladies 
to refrain from reporting these awful outrages. 

Captain Thomas with his company was de- 
tailed to proceed in western Virginia to hunt 
down these wretches in human form, with in- 
structions to be cautious and to make no mis- 
takes. He was always cautious and prudent, 
and ever watchful, and for that reason was sent 
on that service. He soon got hot on their trail, 
and found many places where they had not only 
robbed the houses, but had broken up every ves- 
tige of furniture, and in some places had even 
burned up the clothing and bedding, leaving the 
dwellings as bare as they were before occupied. 
In that mountainous region, to prevent the ma- 
rauders from detecting his presence, he secreted 
his company in an out of the way, unfrequented 
cove in the mountains, and sent out scouts in 
citizens clothes to discover the whereabouts of 



184 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

the incarnate devils. He was soon rewarded in 
the discovery of ten camped not far from the 
residence of one of the wealthiest and most re- 
fined families in the c5untry. 

He disposed his command so as to cut off their 
retreat in case of discovery. After making this 
disposition of his forces, he entered the circle in 
which they were hemmed and proceeded with a 
detachment to the mansion above described, 
which was occupied by a mother and two daugh- 
ters. The devils were all in the mansion when 
he arrived, and had been there at their nefarious 
work for more than an hour before he sur- 
rounded the house and captured them without 
firing a gun. The craven cowards realized their 
situation, but made no resistance. 

A horrid sight met the captain's gaze, and the 
ladies were in tears. The fine piano, dressing 
<!ases, mantels, chairs, bedsteads, tables and every 
article of that splendidly furnished residence had 
been broken into fragments and utterly de- 
stroyed. Indignation at the cruel and wanton 
outrage filled every bosom of that command. The 
ladies, when asked how much further the out- 
rages had extended, only answered with their 
tears, and left the captain to infer. 

What was to be done with the ten prisoners 
who cowered in fear and despair? Were they 
entitled to invoke the care and protection of hon- 
orable prisoners of war? They were not war- 
riors taken in battle or in the discharge of duties 
devolving on honorable soldiers. Was there any 
authority or tribunal over which the Union flag 
floated which they were entitled to invoke for 
protection? 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 185 

All these questions have been answered in the 
chapter in this volume in which is related the 
execution of sixty of these fiends by General For- 
rest in west Tennessee, and the answers there 
given are equally applicable to this case. These 
ten men never saw the rising or setting of an- 
other sun. Captain Thomas took them one mile 
away to avoid shocking the refined sensibilities 
of the cultured ladies and organized a court mar- 
tial which imposed a death sentence, and they 
were all hung at the noon hour when the sun had 
ascended to the zenith. 

Well done, heroic soldiers! All hail to the 
men who dare defend ladies with an iron hand 
against such outrages. Refined hypocrisy may 
shed crocodile tears at the manner of their tak- 
ing off, and parade itself in pharasaical cant be- 
cause they were not handed over in exchange to 
the protection of a flag they dishonored and dis- 
graced. 

A degraded civilization may be appealed to as 
the paradoxical instrument of a higher civiliza- 
tion by those assumed philanthropists who shed 
tears for the criminal and thank God that they 
are not as other men. They may chant anthems 
in the amen corners of their churches over the 
swift fate of the greatest criminals the world 
has ever known, and derogate the protection of 
all that is sacred to the higher types of man- 
kind. But their wails will sink as ashes in the 
dead sea before the southern cross is made to bow 
at such a shrine. 



1 86 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 



ONE OF THE BLUE AND ONE OF THE 
GRAY. 



The Hon. John J. Crittenden, statesman and 
senator from Kentucky, also one of the cele- 
brated peace commissioners to Washington soon 
after President Lincoln's first election, had two 
sons of much ability and tenacity of purpose 
manifested in opposing views in the opening 
stages of the civil war. 

George B. Crittenden vigorously espoused the 
cause of the Confederacy and his brother, 
Thomas J. Crittenden, as vigorously espoused the 
Union cause, and both rapidly rose to the rank 
of general. 

Movements and counter movements of the re- 
spective armies found these brothers in the sum- 
mer of 1864 in chief command of divisions facing 
each other. The Confederates were stationed at 
Abingdon, Va., to prevent the destruction of the 
salt works at Saltville, Va. The Federals were 
moving up from Bristol on the line between Ten- 
nessee and Virginia, having much the larger 
force. 

Before this period of the contest their father 
died possessed of a valuable estate, and George 
was uninformed as to whether or not he had been 
disinherited, and was anxious to obtain informa- 
tion on that subject. At this time Captain John 
H. Thomas, also a Kentuckian, commanded Com- 
pany A, Fourth Kentucky Confederate cavalry, 
and was in command of the cavalry attached to 
General George B. Crittenden's army. A braver 
and more discreet soldier never led a cavalry 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 187 

charge. Much of the time he was also in Gen- 
eral John H. Morgan's cavalry command, and 
was with him when he was assassinated at Green- 
ville, Tenn. 

Two days before the conflict hereinafter re- 
lated, the Confederate general said to the com- 
mander of his cavalry in the town of Abingdon : 

"Come in and let us take a smile," paying |10 
for the same. 

Then the general said : 

"Tomorrow morning you must detail a ser- 
geant and six men with a flag of truce." 

"What for?" inquired the captain. 

The general replied: 

"I am going to confer with brother Tom. Our 
father is dead, and may have disinherited me. 
Strong and great as he was, he may have drifted 
with the Federal storm and in an hour of passion 
may have forgotten his son. My suspense must 
be relieved, so I am going with a flag of truce 
to see Tom and learn the facts." 

Captain Thomas was very much surprised and 
much opposed to the movement at that junction, 
when the armies were expected to clash in battle 
within the next forty-eight hours, and he said to 
his general: 

"If that is your only motive, it is difficult to 
conceive of a more inopportune time. I would 
abandon the idea at once. A flag of truce was 
never designed to cover the gratification of mere 
curiosity of no utility whatever to the army. You 
propose nothing pertaining to military affairs. 
Your brother Tom with his army is not more 
than ten or fifteen miles distant, and is cau- 
tiously advancing on you, with forces superior 



1 88 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

to yours in numbers, to give battle or force you 
to decline it and retreat. The loss of time at 
such an imperative moment may prove disastrous 
to you, to your army and to your fame. The 
ever scrutinizing eye of history will record your 
every move ; the interest of the army is in- 
finitely more important than all the wealth of 
Kentucky. You are standing on the defensive, 
and if you intend to fight here no precaution 
ought to be neglected, no moment lost. Slander 
has ten thousand tongues — the truth but one. 
Your attitude at this moment is anomalous, ex- 
traordinary and perilous, and a slight indiscre- 
tion at this supreme moment may bring disaster 
and unenviable notoriety to you." 

The general replied: 

"I appreciate the candor no less than the wis- 
dom manifested in your reply; and above all I 
appreciate the noble friendship from which it 
springs. But, my dear brother in arms, worthy 
as you are of the heroic courage which has bap- 
tised the fame of Kentucky on many bloody 
fields, permit me to say in the same spirit of 
candor and friendship that I do not share in the 
convictions you so forcibly express. Loyalty and 
devotion to my country rises superior to every 
other consideration. No combination of circum- 
stances, coincidence or ccmditions can ever di- 
minish it. I will not retire without giving battle. 
It will be the battle of the Romans, however su- 
perior the force opposed to my army. It shall 
never be said that a Crittenden failed in the hour 
of action. When Kentuckians meet on opposing 
battlefields they are animated by no considera- 
tion divorced from duty, and they fearlessly meet 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 189 

its demands. Have the detail ready early in the 
morning and follow the flag of truce with your 
cavalry command in the rear.'' 

"Very well," replied the captain, "your order 
is supreme law and will be obeyed.'' 

Sergeant Frederick Hutchinson, a discreet sol- 
dier, with six men was detailed, and the general 
proceeded with them early on the following 
morning, and the captain with his command fol- 
lowed at a convenient distance in the rear. 

The details of this extraordinary move excited 
the curiosity of Captain Thomas, and he in- 
structed his sergeant to carefully note every in- 
cident attending the meeting of the brothers and 
to report to him. In his report he said the broth- 
ers met in the strict etiquette of military formal- 
ity, but otherwise as cold as an arctic iceberg. 
They did not discuss the purpose or object of 
the meeting in the presence of their attendants, 
but retired twenty yards distant and sat down 
on a log facing each other, and spoke in a voice 
inaudible to their attendants. But he said he 
read in their stern unbending features the gath- 
ering of the storm soon to burst in the rattle of 
musketry and roar of cannon. 

The interview lasted about thirty minutes. 
What passed will perhaps never be known; it 
was locked in their bosoms and buried in their 
graves. The storm so clearly read in their faces 
broke forth in the fury of battle commencing at 
nine a. m. next day, and was baptized in heroic 
blood, honorable alike to the armies commanded 
by the brothers. 

Early in the morning succeeding the interview 
the videttes reported to Captain Thomas that the 



190 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Federals were coming in force to attack the Con- 
federates. When this was reported to the gen- 
eral at headquarters he replied in the language 
of Tom Corwin's celebrated aphorism : "We will 
welcome them with bloody hands to hospitable 
graves — I expected it, and am ready in every arm 
of the service. '^ 

The battle opened all along the line at nine 
a. m. and raged for an hour until the Confeder- 
ates, by reason of the enemy's superior numbers, 
were flanked and compelled to fall back. At this 
juncture Captain Thomas was ordered to charge 
the enemy with his cavalry and entertain as well 
as detain them until the Confederates could fall 
back, occupy another position and deliver battle 
again. He charged the infantry and tore 
through their ranks like a whirlwind, and 
checked the advance of the enemy until the Con- 
federates fell back in perfect order and delivered 
battle again. The cavalry was then ordered to 
the rear and held in reserve for another charge. 
In this interim Captain Thomas was ordered to 
go in person to the rear and select another posi- 
tion for the artillery and infantry to fall back 
on when the army should be again outflanked. 
The battle was then resumed for another hour 
before the Federals flanked it again. The cav- 
alry was again ordered to charge under the lead 
of Captain Thomas, which again completely 
checked the Federal advance until the Confeder- 
ates occupied the eligible position selected and 
again offered desperate battle. 

In this way they fell back six times during 
that memorable battle. Captain Thomas led six 
gallant cavalry charges that day, which enabled 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 191 

the Confederates to retreat in as good order as if 
on dress parade. 

Ney, Kellerman and Murat led larger divisions 
and squadrons of cavalry on the many fields of 
Bonaparte's wars, but never exhibited more cour- 
age and tenacity of purpose than Captain 
Thomas and his men did that day. 

The Confederates numbered about three thou- 
sand and the Federals about five thousand men. 
General George B. Crittenden handled his men 
with great ability. When night closed the 
armies bivouaced facing each other. The Con- 
federates slept on their arms, expecting the bat- 
tle to be renewed early next morning. But, t 
their astonishment as much as gratification, the 
Federals had retreated under cover of night and 
were nowhere to be seen on any part of the bat- 
tlefield of the preceding day. 

General Thomas J. Crittenden found in his 
brother George a foeman worthy of his steel 
and an overmatch in generalship. With superior 
numbers he obtained a dearly bought victory, 
which disabled him from renewing the attack on 
such an obstinate enemy, so fruitful of resource 
under great disadvantages. He retreated 
through Cumberland Gap into the mountains of 
Kentucky and in the end left his brother master 
of the situation. 

General Thomas J. Crittenden was twice 
elected governor of Missouri after the war and 
filled the executive chair with honor to the state 
and himself. 

" O, mother, what do they mean by the Blue? 
And what do they mean by the Gray? 
The mother's eyes filled up with tears ; 



192 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

She turned to her darling- fair, 

And smoothed away from the sunny brow 

Its treasures of golden hair. 

One of them said he fought for the Blue, 

The other he fought for the Gray; 

They have gone to a land where the Gray and 

the Blue 
Are merged in colors of light." 



A CHALLENGE AND DUEL ON THE 
PICKET LINE. 



Major Meriwether Magee, a lawyer of local 
fame residing in Toledo, Arkansas, at the com- 
mencement of the war, was major of a Confed- 
erate infantry regiment in General Longs treet's 
corps stationed at Knoxville, Tenn., at the time 
the duel took place. 

The Federal general, Burnside, with his corps 
was then confronting General Longstreet, and 
Major Magee was in command of the Confeder- 
ate picket line, facing the Federal picket line^ 
with a narrow intervening space between the 
lines. Each line under cover had been firing 
on their near enemies for some time. Whenever 
a soldier on either line exposed himself he was 
instantly fired on. These sharpshooters on both 
sides were always selected from the best material 
in the respective armies. They were celebrated 
for their accurate aim, and when a soldier on 
either side exposed himslf a tragedy was almost 
sure to occur. 

Becoming tired of that serious and yet monot- 
onous sport, the officer commanding the Federal 
line in stentorian voice asked: 

"Who commands the rebel line?" 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 193 

To which Major Magee responded: 

"I command it/' 

Then the Federal officer responded: 

"I command this line. Let you and I settle 
this matter between ourselves." 

To which Major Magee responded : 

"All right; that is as good a thing as I want." 

The Federal then said: 

"Let it be distinctly understood that we stand 
out in open space, and that the men of our re- 
spective commands will neither fire nor in any 
way interfere with the duel until one of us falls 
or returns to cover." 

To which Major Magee responded: 

"That is perfectly fair, and I accept the terms 
of the cartel. Get ready at once. It will not 
take a minute to cut one of us down." 

In less than two minutes they took their re- 
spective positions. The Confederate colors were 
raised as the signal to fire. At the signal both 
fired, Magee an instant in advance of the Federal. 
As he was in the act of reaching for another gun 
the Federal fired with unerring aim, the ball 
striking the major in the jaw and knocking out 
several teeth. He fell and was carried under 
cover and the F'ederals shouted long and loud in 
triumphant strain. 

What appears passing strange is the fact that 
the Confederate surgeon fitted the major's teeth 
back in their sockets and they adhered in their 
places. 

It is a matter of regret that the name of the 
gallant Federal officer is not known to the 
writer. Major Magee survived the war and 
practiced his profession at Pine Bluff with honor 



194 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

and distinction until his death. No truer soldier 
or braver man ever honored the profession of 
arms. 

BATTLE OF EOGEESVILLE. 



In 1864 the Federal armies were pressing the 
Confederates in Kentucky, Tennessee and west- 
ern Virginia with overwhelming numbers. At 
the time of which we write there was a Federal 
army of five thousand men encamped at Rogers- 
ville, east Tennessee, composed of raw recruits 
from Ohio, well armed and clothed in new showy 
uniforms, with a new battery of fine Parrot guns, 
mounted with globe sights. "The finest field bat- 
tery I ever saw," said Captain Thomas. 

At the same time Brigadier General Jones, of 
the Confederate army, with a brigade of cavalry 
about two thousand strong, was encamped in the 
valley of the Holston river, twenty-five miles dis- 
tant from the Ohio troops at Rogersville. Gen- 
eral Jones, being the senior officer, was in com- 
mand. Brigadier General Henry L. Giltner, 
who was promoted to that rank in recognition of 
the bravery and ability displayed as colonel of 
the old Fourth Kentucky cavalry, being second in 
command. 

Jones divided the command between himself 
and Giltner when they started on a forced night 
march for the army at Rogersville. Giltner, with 
his old regiment and some detachments from 
other commands, proceeded on the road leading 
down the valley of the Holston. Jones proceeded 
with his division on the Carter's Valley road lead- 



. Reminiscences of the Civil War, 195 

ing direct to Rogersville. Each division was to 
attack the enemy simultaneously from opposite 
points. Daybreak found both divisions in posi- 
tion to charge the enemy. 

The fine battery of Parrot guns were in posi- 
tion across the pike road facing General Gilt- 
ner's command. The battery was supported by 
two thousand infantry drawn up in line of battle 
in a scope of timber to the right of the field guns. 

There was a rise of ground in front of the bat- 
tery, and between it and Giltner's command, 
which neutralized the power of the battery to 
infiict much damage until within two hundred 
yards. The result was that in elevating the guns 
above the rise in the road the range was too high 
to inflict damage until the elevation was passed 
by the advancing Confederates, but ball and shell 
whistled in dangerous proximity over the Con- 
federates. 

General Giltner was always a good and dis- 
creet officer. He advanced slowly to the apex of 
the rise in the road, then gave the order for the 
rebel yell and a charge which struck terror and 
dismay into the ranks of the enemy, resulting in 
the capture of the battery without the loss of a 
man, only a few being wounded. Immediately 
after capturing the cannon the Confederates 
wheeled to the right and charged the raw Ohio 
infantry supporting it. They threw down their 
arms and surrendered without firing a gun. 
When asked why they did not fire, they replied to 
Captain Thomas : 

"You yelled like demons from the lower re- 
gions, and we were afraid if we killed or hurt 
any of your men you would butcher us all." 



196 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

They had hidden many of their guns under logs 
and leaves; to use them in defense they thought 
to be the most dangerous thing they could do» 
They were as harmless against a charge of cav- 
alry as school girls at a picnic would have been. 
Such has ever been the contrast between old vet- 
erans and raw militia. 

General Jones was equally successful in his 
charge on the opposite side of the camp. He cap- 
tured two thousand and Giltner two thousand 
two hundred, aggregating four thousand two 
hundred prisoners captured in less than one 
hour. 

The brilliantly caparisoned Federals had ex- 
tended invitations to the ladies of Rogersville to 
a banquet to be given that night, for which elab- 
orate preparation had been made, to be accom- 
panied with music. It was on Friday, and the 
ladies of Rogersville, after this travesty on war, 
called it good Friday, because they felt happy in 
the deliverance. 

This sounds like a Munchausen extravaganza, 
but is an absolute verity, and we record it in no 
spirit of derision or disparagement. The same 
troops in time, trained in the hardy school of 
war, would have made veterans equal to those 
whose achievements culminated at Appomattox. 
Veterans are not made in a day. Kentuckians in 
the role of raw militia before the same veterans 
had acted equally as badly without firing a gun. 

Colonel Girard, of Ohio, so the citizens and 
prisoners stated, was in command of the Federals 
and made his escape by swimming the Holston 
river. The prisoners were marched thirty miles 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 197 

up the Holston and turned over to General Kan- 
som. 

Captain Thomas had charge of some officers 
with whom was a dudish little major. They 
stopped for dinner at the residence of a Mr. 
Shaver, who was a strong Unionist and amply 
able to entertain his unwelcome guests. He had 
several charming daughters, with one of whom 
the little major was smitten, having known her 
previous to his captivity, and wanted to chat with 
the fine blooming girl privately. With that view 
he embarrassingly approached the captain for 
permission, saying he was a gentleman above 
suspicion, and that if he would grant the inter- 
view he would not violate any of the rules of war 
by using the occasion to the injury of the Con- 
federate army. The captain facetiously re- 
marked that if the young lady would stand 
surety for the faithful performance of his obliga- 
tion — not to injure the Confederates during the 
interview — he would willingly grant it. The 
major's countenance brightened up, he called the 
young lady, and she promptly entered into the 
covenant. A marked distinction between the 
thunderbolts of war and the harmless shafts of 
Cupid. How quick our volatile natures vibrate 
from one extreme of the arc to the other. How 
we sometimes mistake our calling for occupations 
to which we are not well adapted. 

Confederate militia at the battle of Atlanta 
threw down their guns and ran over the old vet- 
erans to the rear without stopping to apologize 
for the insult. In the midst of that conflict the 
old veterans halted for a hearty laugh at the side 
show. "Get, you bet," was their motto, and they 



19S Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

glorified the covenant it implied to run "you bet." 
Their ardent patriotism was powerfully mani- 
fested in their heels to the rear, and in beating a 
retreat they gave a treat. "Distance leads en- 
chantment to the view" — on a battlefield some- 
times as well as a beautiful landscape in civic 
life. 

That patriotism which plants a spring in a 
militiaman's heel was forcibly illustrated in 
one of President Lincoln's best jokes. At Fort- 
ress Monroe he accosted a stalwart old negro. 

"Why are you not in the army fighting for your 
liberty?" 

"Dat's no place for me." 

"But you ought to be patriotic like other col- 
ored men, and fight for your liberty." 

"Dis no fight of mine; I didn't get up de war 
and 'mence it. 'Sides dat, what's patriotism to 
a dead nigger?" 

"Well, if you should be killed you would not 
be missed." 

"But I'd miss myself," 



CAPTURE OF THE KENTUCKY HOME 
GUARDS. 



In the early summer of 1863 the Fourth Ken- 
tucky cavalry, commanded at the time by Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Tandy Pryor, of Carroll county, 
Ky., was ordered from Abingdon, Va., on a re- 
connoitering expedition in eastern Kentucky, 
particularly in the border county of Harlan, 
where the Union element was very pronounced 
in that mountainous region touching the Virginia 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. ig^ 

line. Many outrages were constantly perpe- 
trated on non-combatant citizens of southern sen- 
timent, from which helpless ladies did not escape. 
The regiment at that time was nine hundred and 
sixty strong. They proceeded to Harlan Court- 
house without molestation, but the mountain 
class commenced concentrating under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant Mattingly, of the state 
guard, reinforced by the home guards and the 
bushwhackers of the mountains, the latter never 
having been mustered or sworn into any branch 
of the Federal service. All were armed with 
muskets chambering one large ball and three 
buckshot — formidable weapons over a range of 
five hundred yards. This collection of home gen- 
try generally, but not always, occupied the 
wooded ridges and mountains inaccessible to cav- 
alry charges, but fronting the highways over 
which the Confederate cavalry moved. 

From Harlan Courthouse Colonel Pryor 
turned east on the road leading to Sandersville, 
and was soon informed by a southern sympa- 
thizer that the Federal amateurs above named 
were massing in his rear to cut off retreat and 
hold him in check until a strong detachment of 
the regular Federal army could arrive on the 
scene. Pryor then reversed the order of his 
march and went to interview the amateur knights 
of the mountain, and found them early next day 
in a position where his cavalry could make a vig- 
orous charge with the inspiring rebel yell as a 
soothing accompaniment. This was more than 
they could stand, and it produced a revolution 
of sentiment and desire which found emphatic 
expression in rapid celerity of motion to the rear. 



200 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

To old veterans it was a striking tableau — a trav- 
esty on war — to see men who had marched 
bravely up the hill when no enemy was in sight, 
charging down the hill with hats off, disheveled 
hair whipping the air, courage at zero, their use- 
less muskets thrown away as an unendurable en- 
cumbrance, and feet and legs the only arms and 
munitions of war relied on. Patriotism got them 
in and their legs took them out. 

The Confederates never enjoyed a heartier 
laugh. They were not hunting "milish." They 
did not pursue them nor fire on them, but cap- 
tured Lieutenant Mattingly, the commander, and 
quite a squad of militia with him. 

At first Colonel Pryor, after consultation with 
his captains, presuming the enemy were all what 
the regulars termed bushwhackers, was disposed 
to be very harsh with the prisoners, but their 
commander, Lieutenant Mattingly, vigorously 
averred that they were regularly organized home 
guards. With this assurance Colonel Pryor gave 
them the benefit of a doubt and told Mattingly 
that he would parole him and his men if they 
would go back to their comrades and tell them 
that he was not making war on citizens, to go 
home and attend to their business as citizens and 
they would not in any way be interfered with by 
Confederate soldiers, whose mission was to make 
war only on soldiers in the regular Federal ser- 
vice, and asked his opinion as to what would be 
the result of such action, and whether they 
would, if released on such conditions, faithfully 
observe them, and they all said they were decid- 
edly of the opinion that their comrades would 
disband and go home under such assurance, and 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 201 

that they would go immediately and exert their 
influence to consummate such agreement, and 
that whether successful or not, they would at 
least go home and faithfully observe the condi- 
tions of their parole, and thereupon they were 
all released and sent on their mission of peace. 

This occurred about ten a. m. Mattingly was 
an influential man in the community. He held 
places of honor and trust in civil life and was 
held in high esteem. These facts were then 
known to the Confederates — hence the confidence 
reposed in his solemn covenants to obtain his re- 
lease. The Confederates then moved on, confi- 
dent in the belief that they would encounter no 
further resistance from militia bands in that 
region. 

About three hours after the release of the pris- 
oners the Confederates entered a valley within 
five hundred yards of a v-shaped mountain, the 
point terminating in their front on the opposite 
side of the valley. 

A public road extended around each side of the 
mountain, which was covered with timber chap- 
arral and fringed with precipitous cliffs, wholly 
inaccessible to cavalry. 

At that point, much to their surprise, the 
home guards and bushwhackers had col- 
lected, and they fired a volley at the 
Confederates, which did no damage to 
the soldiers but killed one baggage mule. 
The colonel called a halt and summoned Captain 
Thomas and Captain Richard Gaithright to con- 
sult with him as to whether to advance or retreat. 
He said : 



202 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"The cavalry can not charge up the mountain, 
through timber, chaparral and over precipitous 
cliffs. If we advance they will pour a destructive 
fire on our line without our being able to inflict 
but little, if any, damage. What do you think 
best under all the circumstances surrounding us? 
We do not even know whether the enemy is com- 
posed of regular Federal troops or of home 
guards." 

Captain Thomas said: 

"There is but one of two things to do — retreat 
or fight. It is evident to my mind that the enemy 
is composed of raw militia, because regular 
troops would have more sense than to fire on us 
at this distance — regulars would have waited in 
their ambush until they could have seen the white 
of our eyes before firing. Eegulars in that posi- 
tion, behind trees and rocky cliffs, would almost 
have annihilated us. My advice is to send one 
company on the road leading to the left of the 
mountain, the other to the right. We can go at 
full speed in charging and get under the cliffs 
next to the mountain, advance as fast as possible, 
and get to their rear. We can find a depression 
in the mountain where we can ascend it and cut 
off their retreat. As soon as they discover this 
movement they will be panic stricken and flee; 
then you, colonel, with the remaining eight com- 
panies can charge up to the mountain, dismount 
and press the fleeing column." 

Captain Gaithright, one of the truest and brav- 
est of the brave, heartily concurred in this plan, 
and the colonel ordered these true and tried vet- 
erans to take their companies and execute the 
movement. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 203 

Captain Gaithright's commission was the old- 
est, by virtue of which he commanded the de- 
tached companies, saying : 

"Thomas, from the physical conformation of 
that mountain I am sure we can ascend it in less 
than three miles of the enemy's position, and that 
will be the point to which the enemy will rush 
to make their escape. Your lieutenant is a gal- 
lant, dashing man; let him command the com- 
pany to the left and you go with me to the right. 
Instruct the men to go at full speed, and when 
within one hundred yards of the enemy to raise 
the old terrific rebel yell.'' 

And in that gallant style they went to work. 
Both companies got under shelter of the moun- 
tain without losing a man, and out of the en- 
emy's fire unharmed. When they got beyond 
reach of the enemy's guns they slowed up to rest 
their horses. 

Looking up the valley they saw two men ap- 
proaching. One was a very large man, mounted 
on a fine horse ; the other on foot, on the side of 
a very steep ridge to the right of the line of ap- 
proach, one hundred yards distant. 

Captain Gaithright, one of the finest shots in 
the army, fired at the man on horseback. As he 
pulled the trigger the horse raised his head and 
was brained by the ball, thus saving the rider^ 
and both came rolling down the ridge. Both men 
were captured. 

The man on foot — a Mr. Combs — proved to be 
a Confederate soldier who came in on furlough, 
and was out hunting his horse to return to his 
command, and had by chance fallen in with the 
man on horseback. Mosely, the fat man, whose 



204 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

horse was killed, was not hurt. His character 
was not then known to the captors and he was 
released with the Confederate soldier. But after 
his release it was soon ascertained that Mosely 
was a notorious jay hawker, robber, thief and 
murderer, who, in the disorganized state of so- 
ciety, was plying his vocation with impunity; 
that he was one of the Hubbard clan of thieves, 
whose history is given in another connection. 

After the social fabric of society became dis- 
organized in the mountain counties of eastern 
Kentucky, a young man was sent by his father 
with fifteen hundred dollars to deposit in bank, 
and stopped over at night at Mosely's house, and 
was indiscreet in telling Mosely the amount he 
had with him and the disposition he was going 
to make of it. That night Mosely killed and 
robbed the young man, and forced a young man 
living with him to dig a grave and bury him in 
the adjacent woods, telling the assistant that if 
he ever told on him he would be disposed of in 
the same way. Fear sealed the witness's mouth 
until the civil war ended and the regular courts 
were organized. Then he went before the grand 
jury and caused an indictment to be found 
against Mosely, charging murder and robbery. 
When the trial came on the court room was 
packed with citizens who knew of tenfold more 
crimes committed by Mosely, the outlaw, rob- 
ber and manifold murderer. The witness told 
of the murder and robbery of the young man, 
and said that he could show the grave and the re- 
mains, if they had not been removed. There- 
upon the judge ordered the sheriff to take his 
deputies and the witness and go to the grave of 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 205 

the murdered man and exhume the remains, 
and adjourned court until this could be done. 
The witness went directly to the grave and 
pointed it out to the sheriff and deputies. They 
dug up the remains, put the bones in a basket 
and produced them in court. The citizens were 
enraged to the last degree, not only at that evi- 
dence of crime, but a hundred others charged 
against the outlaw. They took the prisoner from 
the court and hung him to a tree in the court 
house yard and riddled his body with bullets. 

Now to return to where Thomas and Gaith- 
right captured him. After releasing the men 
they rushed on to the front as fast as possible to 
cut off the retreat of the enemy. They soon came 
to a depression in the mountain occupied by the 
enemy, ascended it as rapidly as possible, and 
confronted the retreating enemy, poured a volley 
into them and charged them, killing seven and 
wounding many more, and captured fifteen pris- 
oners. In the meantime, whilst this company 
was hurrying to the right of the "v'' mountain, 
the company hurrying to the left did not readily 
find an opening by which they could ascend the 
mountain, consequently they unavoidedly left a 
gap, or space of exit, through which the remain- 
der escaped. 

To the very great surprise of Captain Thomas 
and Captain Gaithright, they found with the cap- 
tured prisoners Lieutenant Mattingly and his 
brother, whom the command had captured a few 
hours before and paroled under the solemn pledge 
that they would use their earnest efforts to dis- 
band the home guards, and that under no condi- 
tion would they take up arms until exchanged. 



2o6 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

They also ascertained that the whole command 
of the enemy was under the command of the no- 
torious bushwhacker, Jim Archer, who had fled 
and made his escape. 

Archer and his men had never been sworn into 
the Federal service^ but had under his command 
on that occasion the state guards, the home 
guards and his freebooting bushwhackers and 
notorious outlaws who made war on defenseless 
women and children whose husbands and fathers 
were in the Confederate army. Such characters 
are always devoid of courage and depend more 
on their heels than their guns whenever called on 
to face the music of battle with veterans. Cour- 
iers were sent after the company which went up 
to the left of the mountain, and to Colonel Pryor, 
and the command was soon assembled. 

Lieutenant Mattingly had violated his parole 
immediately after being released, and had most 
flagrantly forfeited his life, without a single miti- 
gating circumstance, and his execution on the 
spot would have been clearly justified as soon as 
the forms of a trial by court martial could have 
been duly consummated. But the Fourth Ken- 
tucky cavalry was composed of the chivalry of 
the state, and the command was never precip- 
itous in resorting to extremes. Colonel Pryor 
called his ten captains in consultation, and the 
conclusion they arrived at was that it would be 
the best policy to subordinate Mattingly's influ- 
ence with the Union element of that section of 
the state to the advantage of the Confederates, 
both in and out of the Confederate army, under 
conditions and restrictions they were tlien able 
to impose as ransom for his life and that of his 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 207 

men who had also violated their parole. The 
conditions were that Mattingly would go to the 
state guards, home guards and Jim Archer's 
bushwhackers and the non-combatant Union ele- 
ment, within the sphere of his influence, and in- 
duce them as far as possible to refrain from dep- 
redation on non-combatant citizens who sympa- 
thized with the cause of the Confederacy; and 
further, to represent to his comrades in arms 
that Confederate soldiers from Kentucky in the 
regular service were not making war on 
ill advised home organizations, but simply 
on soldiers in the regular service of the United 
States. That if he would accept these conditions, 
and in the utmost good faith perform them, they 
would parole him for twenty-four hours, at the 
end of which time he was to report to Colonel 
Pryor, who would halt his command there and 
await his return. That if he failed to return he 
would execute his brother and the thirteen pris- 
oners with him, whom they would hold as host- 
ages for his return. Mattingly was profoundly 
grateful for his life, and most solemnly assured 
the colonel that he would perform to the utmost 
of his ability every item of the covenant which 
restored his life and saved that of his brother 
and comrades, and immediately set off on a fine 
horse furnished him for the purpose. In the 
meantime the prisoners were securely guarded in 
the bull pen, if we may utilize the classic lan- 
guage of the army. 

The twenty-four hours rolled away, and five 
additional hours, without his return to save the 
life of the hostages. Despair portrayed the ag- 
ony of their souls, and hope, the last consolation 



2o8 Beminiscences of the Civil War. 

of man, folded her golden wings and refused 
further comfort. The hour which parted the 
ways between time and eternity had come. Some 
knelt in fervent prayer, and some asked for ma- 
terial to write their last farewell to friends and 
the scenes of this troublesome world. Others 
asked for material and a scribe to write their 
wills, and to their families. A more impressive 
and solemn scene was never witnessed by citizen 
or soldier. Tears came to eyes of brave Confed- 
erates, and many turned away from the sad con- 
templation of the stern realities of war. Colonel 
Pryor had exhausted conservative remedies. His 
inclination to leniency must not be further taxed. 
All knew the prisoners would be executed in de- 
fault of Mattingly's return. Their lives were 
forfeited for violation of their parole. 

Colonel Pryor consulted his watch every few 
minutes. Soldier as he was, his heart was trou- 
bled and stirred to its foundations. To take the 
life of an enemy in battle was his calling, his pro- 
fession, but to lead out fourteen unarmed men 
and execute them, in their utterly helpless con- 
dition, strained to its utmost tension every nerve 
and fibre of his noble nature, and he tarried long, 
to indulge the last ray of hope that the paroled 
would yet return and spare him the discharge of 
such a painful duty. 

Presently the brush and undergrowth on the 
hill above was heard crashing, and when the 
colonel cast his eye in the direction of the omi- 
nous sound he beheld a man spurring his horse 
to his utmost speed, advancing towards him. 
And who was it? It was Mattingly's breathless 
return. He fell exhausted in a swoon at the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 209 

colonel's feet, with but one word before articula- 
tion deserted his tongue: 

"Have I saved my comrades?" 

"Yes," said the colonel, as glad as an angel in 
opening the book to record the salavation of a 
soul. 

The returned messenger of life lay motionless 
and as pale as a winding sheet at his feet, ex- 
hausted with superhuman effort to achieve his 
mission within the allotted time, and flooded in 
the revolution of triumphant joy. His heart 
stood still and his tongue silent in homage to 
that divinity of man which, touched amidst the 
scenes of war with the concord of our common 
frailty and the nobility of all the higher types of 
humanity, had saved the doomed. The colonel, 
gently as with the hand of a mother, wiped his 
face with a moistened kerchief, and he soon re- 
vived to the rapture of a wilderness of bliss, in- 
expressible to those beyond the pale of such ex- 
perience. 

Mattingly then told of the impossiblity which 
confronted him in the effort to cover all of the 
territory assigned within the allotted time. 

What a wonderful compound of divine mech- 
anism is the human mind, that "harp of a thou- 
sand strings," often rushing from one extreme qf 
the pendulum to the other, producing revolutions 
as sudden and unforeseen as an earthquake, It 
was as the morn of resurrection to thosie/jr^- 
deemed prisoners. After undergoing all the ag- 
onies of death they went home to their familieis 
with their hearts overflowing with a Pentecostal 
feast of happiness. But in that squad of re- 
leased captives was one abandoned by God and 



2IO Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

despised of men, whose awful crimes were not 
then known to his captors — the notorious Mose- 
\j — whose taking off we have told. 

Colonel Pryor then moved on into Virginia 
without further molestation from the over val- 
iant militia. 

Diversity is one of the primal laws of man's 
creation, as well as all other departments of the 
wonderful works of nature throughout the un- 
fathomable universe, and the path of the war- 
rior is as full of comic as of tragic episode and 
incident, and we crave the indulgence of the 
reader in offering another phase of gentle hu- 
manity which comes like the changing scenes of 
the kaleidoscope to relieve sterile monotony in 
the rise of another curtain on the soldier's stage. 

Captain Thomas has a keen sense of the comic 
phases of life, and enjoys a melodious laugh on a 
high key. After crossing the mountains into Vir- 
ginia he led the advance guard down the valley of 
a crystal stream, sparkling with its "laughing 
waters." Presently he came to a neat little log 
cabin on the road side, the door ornamented and 
shaded with the Virginia creeper. He rode up 
and stopped at the gate and called for the occu- 
pant to come out. In a few moments a little old 
lady, tidily dressed, wearing a white cap with 
frills, such as our grandmothers patronized, with 
cob pipe in her mouth, a ball of yarn and knit- 
ting in her hands, vigorously working as she 
came out to the gate. She said : 

"Howdy do, stranger. Tie your critter to the 
fence and come in and make yourself at home." 

"Thank you. I have not time," said the cap- 
tain. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 21 r 

Then casting her eyes up the valley she 
beheld the advancing cavalcade of mounted war- 
riors approaching, and inquired: 

"Where are you uns from, anyway?'' 

"We are all from Kentucky," responded the 
captain. 

Then the good old mother in Israel, still ply- 
ing her needles and puffing away at her pipe, 
exclaimed : 

"Law me! did you uns come on critter's back 
all the way from Old Kaintuck whar I was born 
forty and eight years ago, but kim over the 
mountains to Old Virginia 'fore I was tied to 
Davy, my man, who's been dead, lo these ten 
years, and left me with four children, two gals 
and two boys — Suck and Sal and Dave and Jim. 
Suck is out arter the calf, and Sal is workin' the 
butter, and Jim he jined the yankees, and Dave 
he jined the rebs ; and I 'suaded them all I could 
to stay at home and mind their own business 
whar thar would be no fitin'. But they be hard 
headed, an' wouldn't be 'suaded by thar old 
mother, and thar is nobody here but me and 
Suck and Sal." 

The captain did not have time to catch his 
breath. 

Then the old lady broke out in a fresh place 
and exclaimed : 

"Law me! did all you uns come all the way 
from Old Kaintuck to fight for we uns?" 

Assured that they had, the little old mountain 
mother said: 

"Well, be goodness gracious, if the last one on 
ye ain't on critter back (meaning on horseback), 
and all come to Old Virginia for to fight and kill 



212 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

all the yankees; an' from ye 'pearance I s'pose 
you'll do it. But ye must be careful and not hurt 
Jim. Say, stranger, if ye ever come across Jim 
and Dave, take them right along with ye, so 
they'll be together; and say I told you to do it. 
An' be sure to take good care on 'em. You 'pears 
to me to be a good man an' not afeard of the 
yankees. Say, stranger, whar did you git all 
them fine bosses? I do wish Jim an' Dave had 
bosses like 'em." 

The captain assured her that they were Ken- 
tucky horses. Then she struck another key and 
said : 

"I always hearn tell that Old Kaintuck could 
beat the world for critters, an' now I know it, 
'cause I've seen 'em with my own eyes. Say, 
stranger, I do believe that if the old scratch (the 
devil) was to see you uns coming, he would get 
skeered an' break his neck gittin' across the 
mountains." 

It was getting monotonous, and the captain 
asked for some fresh buttermilk, and the old 
lady said: 

"Sal, fetch a gourd of buttermilk to this 
stranger." 

The captain quaffed off the libation, spurred 
his horse, and left the good old loquacious lady, 
promising to hunt up Jim and Dave and take 
care of them. 

Traveling on a few miles further at the head 
of the single file column, he came to another 
mountain cabin and an apple orchard full of 
luscious fruit, which looked as tempting as the 
allegorical tree which caused the introduction 
of sin into the world and Adam to forfeit his gal- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 213 

lantry by charging it up to his transformed rib. 
The landlord of mountain gorge and glen was 
sitting on a bench in the front yard surrounded 
by a triplet of dogs and a half dozen bareheaded 
and barefooted children, his hopeful posterity 
of various sizes representing both sexes. He was 
skinning squirrels, whilst one of the children 
held a pan in which to deposit the denuded game, 
and the dogs were rivals in jumping ^or the skins 
as he tossed them in the air. The captain halted 
and said: 

"Have you any apples to spare, my friend?" 

"Who's yo friend? Whar did ye ever see me 
befor? Tears to me ye are mistaken. Darned if I 
ever see ye fo now. But I spec de apples make 
ye feel sorter good, an 'spose it's all right. But, 
stranger, we don't ketch on to men or make 
friends in these mountains until we know mo' 
'bout him, 'specially in de war times when every 
stranger tries to get away with you or what you 
got." 

The captain said: 

"But I'll pay for them." 

"If you do, you'll do mo' than the other sol- 
diers — yankees or rebels. When it comes to git- 
tin' things they are all the same — ^just alike — 
takes what da can fine. 'Sides that, let me tell 
you, stranger, sometimes whisky are hard to git, 
and skase, an' no money in the house besides; 
an' if ye has no apples to make hard cider you 
can't git up steam, an' has ter go dry as a barn 
cow." 

The captain then changed the subject by ask- 
ing him whether he held with the Confederates 
or the yankees. And he replied : 



214 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"That 'pends on what ye are. Sometimes I'm 
one an' sometimes I'm the other, and sometimes 
neither. Tell me, stranger, what you be, an' 
maby I'll tell ye what I be." 

'^I am a Confederate all over," said the cap- 
tain. 

"Well then," said the man of all sides, "just 
now I'm not ferninst you, and when the yankees 
come along I'll not be ferninst them; and when 
neither are about I'll be whatever suits me best. 
But lem me tell ye, stranger, I've bin down at 
Cumberland Gap, tryin' to see for myself who 
be the most men, an' I tell ye, bein' as you say 
you are my fren — an' I suppose you are — them 
mountains an' woods are runnin' over with yan- 
kees, an' they be the most. Now maby it'll do 
yer good, when I tell you uns to git outen thar 
way an' stay out. If ye don't, they'll whip h — 1 
outen ye. Now, being as ye are a fren, I'll tell 
ye whar ye kin git all the apples ye want. Jes 
keep in the road whar ye now set on yer critter, 
then go right on about a mile, and whin ye git 
to Bill Jinks's house on ye left, turn your back 
ferninst the house an' look squar across the road 
an' ye'll see oodlets on 'em, an' Bill won't miss 
what you take." 

Late that evening they came to a beautiful 
valley covered with grass. Both men and horses 
were jaded and needed recruiting rest, and 
Colonel Pryor went into camp on the banks of a 
beautiful stream twenty yards wide and two feet 
deep, the bottom being covered with flat, mossy 
rocks, as slick as greased glass. Many of the 
rosy mountain girls from the opposite side of the 
stream visited the camp and crossed over in a 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 215 

small boat. Two of these girls tarried longer 
than their comrades, and when they were ready 
to return the boat was gone and the horses were 
some distance away, being guarded whilst graz- 
ing. This condition of facilities presented a di- 
lemma which Captain Thomas, in the sway and 
play of his gallant nature, was anxious to bridge 
over. He called his trusted friend, Ed Spencer, 
aside and said : 

"Ed, let us take those girls over the stream on 
our shoulders." 

Ed felt a little nonplussed, and said : 

"They are large, and we can't get them up. We 
can't shoulder them; and I don't think they 
would agree or submit to it. Have you made the 
proposal to them?" 

"No ; but I will. And if they agree, there is a 
large stump from which they can easily slip 
down on our shoulders," said the captain. 

"Well, said Ed, "I don't much like the idea. 
It is rather romantic, and altogether out of 
order, and we will never hear the end of it, but I 
am always ready to lift a lady out of a dilemma. 
As you are a captain and outrank a private, I 
suppose I must obey if you make such an unmil- 
itary requisition." 

The captain, as full of fun and gallantry as 
of courage in battle, took the ladies aside and 
told them of the preparation he had made. After 
a little coquetry and some demur, and some fa- 
cetious persuasion, the ladies consented and pro- 
ceeded to the stump, and were soon firm in the 
saddle, much to the amusement of the command 
lined up on the margin of the stream. 



2i6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

The warriors entered the stream, one hand 
around the pedal extremities and the other ele- 
vated as a mast overhead, by which the riders 
steadied themselves. Thus they entered the 
swift waters, steadying themselves, cautiously 
advancing one foot before the other, feeling for 
a firm foundation before lifting and advancing 
the rear guard. Thus gallantly encumbered with 
a "Highland lassie," kicking the beam at one 
hundred and forty pounds avordupois, they 
could not control some vibration in the nerve 
centers. Ed became shaky and tremulous as he 
advanced over the slippery foundation, and his 
girl wabbled as she lost confidence in the manly 
steed she had mounted. In the middle of the 
treacherous waters and rocks Ed, whilst advanc- 
ing the rear to the front guard, struck a bowl- 
der and fell, carrying the girl beneath the sur- 
face with him; but he lifted her above the 
waters and held her fast whilst she expelled the 
strangling water from her mouth, whilst gasping 
and struggling for breath. It was too much for 
gallantry to curb and subdue risible nerves. The 
onlookers burst forth in peals of laughter whilst 
the unfortunate gallant led the dripping maid to 
the opposite shore. For a few moments she sup- 
pressed her rising wrath, but the laughter of 
the soldiers opened the pent up vents of a vol- 
cano of ire, and she turned it loose on poor Ed's 
head with the rapidity of a park of gatling guns. 
Captain Thomas was crowned with success in 
safely depositing his freight high and dry on 
terra firma. But Ed's girl vociferously accused 
him of purposely perpetrating the outrage, and 
declared that if she was a man his life would 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 217 

alone condone the offense, and that if any gen- 
tleman would loan her a gun she would shoot 
him anyway. Poor Ed suffered in the flesh and 
retreated at a much higher rate of speed than 
marked his advance. The ludicrous tableau, he 
declared, was much more painful than any dan- 
ger or charge he had ever made on the battle- 
field, and he vowed that he would never obey 
other than a strictly military order in the future. 



AN EASY CAPTUKE. 



Captain Thomas tells the following very amus- 
ing incident. 

General Longstreet, through his scouts, ascer- 
tained that the Federal commander at Knox- 
ville had started a supply train of wagons 
through the mountain defiles to the garrison at 
Cumberland Gap, guarded by a strong cavalry 
force. Captain Thomas, with several cavalry 
companies, was ordered to intercept and capture 
the train. 

In that mountainous region it is impossible 
for an army or wagon train to march in anything 
like compact order, especially when strung out 
in passing through defiles. Under such condi- 
tions an inferior force can select advantageous 
points of attack, where superior numbers can 
not reach them. 

The Confederates sent a force to attack in the 
rear, and a force to the front to hem the enemy 
in the defiles. The division with which Captain 
Thomas co-operated was sent to the front. Be- 
fore anything but skirmishing in the rear had 



2i8 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

taken place, the front forces late one evening 
selected an eligible camping ground, built their 
campfires, fed their horses, got their supper and 
put out their picket guards, with instructions 
not to fire on the wagon train if it should come 
through the defile without a strong guard, or if 
it should pass in unguarded by a strong force, 
as it would likely do, because no obstruction or 
opposition had up to this time been interposed, 
except trifling skirmishes in the rear. 

The plan was well conceived. Not long after 
nightfall one of the pickets reported the rum- 
bling of wagons coming through the defile in ad- 
vance of any guard. The wagonmaster soon rode 
up, supposing that the campfires in front were 
made by the Federals. Without making any in- 
quiry whatever, he parked the train, fed the 
teams, and then came forward and asked where 
their respective messes could be found. 

He was jocosely answered: 

"They are all down there in the bull pen." 

Not yet suspecting the trap he was in, he 
asked : 

"What for? What in the world have they 
been doing?" 

And w^as answered: 

"They fired on the Condefederates, were alto- 
gether unsocial, and we put them in the bull pen 
to make them more companionable." 

"The h — 1 you say. This is a Confederate 
camp then, is it?" 

"Oh, yes. Step this way, gentlemen; as you 
have demeaned yourselves like gentlemen, you 
shall be treated as such." 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 219 

Twenty wagons well loaded with much needed 
supplies thus fell to the Confederates. Each 
wagon was drawn by a team of six fine mules. 
The rear guard was headed off in the mountain 
defile, and after slight skirmishing retreated 
back to Knoxville. 



INCIDENTS AND EPISODES AT THE 
BATTLE OF BLUE SPRINGS. 



All the facts herein detailed were given to the 
author by Captain John H. Thomas, of the 
Fourth Kentucky cavalry, who was an active 
participant in the several battles. 

General Burnside was then stationed at Knox- 
ville, Tenn., with a force estimated at forty 
thousand strong. General J. S. Williams, of 
Kentucky, better known as Cerrogordo Williams, 
was stationed near Ball's Gap, in east Tennessee, 
with a force estimated at two thousand five hun- 
dred, acting as a corp of observation. To dis- 
lodge and drive off the Confederates, General 
Burnside sent a detachment estimated at ten 
thousand strong, but Captain Thomas does not 
at this distant day remember the name of the 
general in command of the Federals, but thinks 
that General Shackelford commanded the Fed- 
erals, as he was censured by General Burnside 
for not accomplishing the objects of the expedi- 
tion by cutting off the retreat of the Confeder- 
ates, who fought desperately and successfully 
at Ray, or Rheatown, the following day. Gen- 
eral Shackelford was in command of a superior 
force, commanding a fiank movement to the rear 



220 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

of the Confederates to cut off and capture them, 
which they failed to do, and for which Captain 
Thomas says it was currently reported at the 
time General. Burnside severely censured him. 
But this is merely incidental to a full under- 
standing of the battles and incidents to be re- 
lated. 

The Confederates occupied a ridge fronting 
an open field of stubble from which small grain 
had been harvested, near one-half mile in width 
and within two hundred yards of the Confed- 
erate lines. Beyond this field there was a con- 
siderable portion of woodland; and beyond this 
an open field, behind which the Federal troops 
were massed. 

General Williams ordered Captain Thomas to 
deploy his company of dismounted men in the 
skirt of woods between the two fields above de- 
scribed, to act as sharpshooters, and to hold the 
position as long as possible. 

Colonel Giltner, of the Fourth Kentucky cav- 
alry, dismounted and occupied the center of the 
Confederate line with a battery of five small 
rapid fire cannon and one six pound cannon. 
Without orders from General Williams he com- 
pletely masked this battery on the ridge within 
three hundred yards of the open field in front, 
intending to await the massing of the enemy in 
the open field. These rapid fire guns threw each 
forty shells or balls to the minute, and on this 
occasion they were worked with shells aggre- 
gating two hundred shots to the minute. 

Captain Thomas with his sharpshooters main- 
tained his ground in the woods for an hour, keep- 
ing back the enemy's sharpshooters until the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 221 

main body of the enemy advanced in overwhelm- 
ing force and drove him back through the field 
under a hot and rapid fire to the Confederate 
lines. 

Now comes one of the very remarkable inci- 
dents of the battle — a flat and repeated refusal 
of Colonel Giltner to obey the orders of his com- 
manding general to open his battery on the en- 
emy, whilst his skirmishers were engaged very 
hotly with the enemy in the woods, from which 
they were finally driven as above stated. Colonel 
Giltner was hot headed and persistent when he 
thought he was right and his judgment better 
than that of his commanding general. He was 
thoroughly convinced that it would be a waste 
of his limited supply of ammunition for his bat- 
tery of small guns to be opened on the enemy be- 
yond the woods, and that such action would dis- 
close the position of his battery and utterly de- 
stroy the object in masking it. His object was 
to wait until the enemy massed in the open field, 
which was undoubtedly a fine stroke of the best 
generalship under the conditions then confront- 
ing him, as the enemy were massing to break the 
centre of the Confederate line which he held. 

The courier came with an order to open with 
the battery on the enemy. 

"Go back and tell the general that it is not yet 
time to work the battery." 

Soon the courier came again with peremptory 
orders to open fire with the battery at once. 

"Go back and tell the general that I under- 
stand the situation and my duty far better than 
he does, and that I do not intend to open with 
the battery until the time for execution comes." 



222 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Again the courier returned with orders to open 
with the battery immediately, and that if the 
order was disobeyed he would have him court 
martialed and cashiered. 

"Go back and tell the general that I know my 
business and what is best for the army, the coun- 
try, himself and myself; that I hold myself re- 
sponsible, personally, officially, or in any other 
way, for my conduct during this battle this day, 
and at all other times, and that I will not open 
with the battery or disclose its presence until my 
judgment dictates the time.'' 

In ten minutes after the last answer was de- 
livered the Confederate sharpshooters fell back 
to their lines, and the Federals came pouring 
en masse over the fence and into the field. Then, 
and not until then, did Colonel Giltner open with 
his masked battery of rapid fire guns at the rate 
of two hundred shots of shell per minute, and at 
the same time a rapid flash of fire from small 
arms opened at close range with unerring aim. 

Captain Thomas says that the slaughter sur- 
passed anything he ever saw on a battlefield. 
The enemy was appalled, terror stricken, par- 
alyzed, utterly disorganized. The screams of the 
wounded and dying was awful. They fell in 
piles and rolled back to the woods like the waves 
of the sea. That field was an awful slaughter 
pen — the dead, wounded and dying lay piled over 
each other. The battle was won and the enemy 
had fled. 

General Williams had won his spurs and nom 
de plume in the Mexican war and had been a 
member of the United States senate from "the 
dark and bloody ground." He was as generous 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 223 

as brave. When he comprehended the reason 
and result of the splendid generalship which led 
his subordinate to disobey orders on the firing 
line during the progress of the battle, he at once 
realized the splendor of the achievement, and 
with that nobility of character and soul which 
belong to great men shook hands with and heart- 
ily congratulated Colonel Giltner, who was soon 
after promoted to the rank of brigadier. 

The battle commenced at ten a. m. and ended 
at two p. m. But, as before stated, the enemy 
had greatly superior numbers, and by four p. m. 
of that day it was discovered that the Federals 
in large numbers were passing behind the hills 
in a flank movement to the rear of the Confeder- 
ates, and it was necessary to take immediate 
steps to block and counteract that movement, 
and the whole army was immediately put in mo- 
tion. When night came General Williams had 
campfires built on the hills and mountains over 
a line three miles in length, to deceive the enemy, 
and continued his forced march on the retreat 
all night. 

Next morning at daylight they faced the en- 
emy at Eay, or Kheatown, drawn up in line of 
battle. Another desperate fight seemed immi- 
nent. The Confederates made a cavalry charge, 
broke through the enemy^s lines, and when they 
reformed and closed up in line of battle another 
cavalry charge broke through their lines again. 
The Federals under General Shackelford then 
filed left through a gap or pass in the mountains. 

General Williams, from the best information 
derived from his scouts, thought it safe to go into 
camp for the night and give his much exhausted 



224 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

army rest, which had been fighting or rapidly on 
the march for forty consecutive hours. They 
were out of provisions and forage for their ani- 
mals, and a foraging party was sent out to a field 
for corn. Captain Thomas followed to get forage 
for his own horse, and was some distance away 
when an order came to hurry back to his com- 
mand. He did not get the order, but soon 
heard rapid firing in the camp. Kiding back to 
where he had left his company, he found evidence 
of a fight — trees perforated and several dead 
and wounded comrades — but not another soul 
in sight. 

Day was fast fading into night. This was an 
unusual dilemma, but the roar of cannon indi- 
cated the position of at least a part of the Fed- 
eral lines, and he put spurs to his already jaded 
horse of the best race blood of Kentucky. He 
soon reached a highway, where he saw one of his 
wagons torn to pieces with cannon shot and one 
of his men cut clear in two by a cannon ball. 

Dark closed the battle with small arms, but 
the Federal artillery worked vigorously all 
night. After being fired on several times and 
running many narrow risks he found some of 
the Confederates bivouaced in a valley sheltered 
behind a hill from the enemy's vigorous cannon- 
ada Without sleep for three days and nights, 
and very little food for himself and horse — 
which he describes as the noblest of animals, 
and for which he refused four hundred dollars 
in gold — he sat down exhausted by a tree, tied 
his horse to his wrist, and in a minute was sound 
asleep. His horse dropped down on his knees 
for rest at his feet and slept by his side. Cannon 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 225 

ball and shell tearing through the trees above his 
head did not prevent the sound slumber nature 
craved. 

At daylight he awoke to find himself enclosed 
by the branches of trees cut off by ball and shell, 
and the camp empty of men and every comrade 
in arms gone. But the roar of artillery five miles 
away told him where he was needed. The rapid 
fire guns of his own regiment was music to his 
ears, and he was there in twenty-five minutes in 
the thickest of a hotly contested battle. 

Galloping down the line, he found General 
Williams dismounted, sitting in front of the line 
of battle against the root of a tree, with his back 
to the enemy, watching the movement of his own 
men. 

''Get up from there, general. You are too 
much exposed, and your life is too valuable to 
be lost in such an emergency as this. You can 
not well see what is going on whilst you occupy 
that position." 

"Yes, captain, I know all that is going on. The 
enemy with a greatly superior force is pressing 
us to the wall, and it is very hard on my men," 
replied the general. 

"Captain, take your company thirty feet to 
the rear of that battery and protect it at all 
hazards," ordered the general. 

Thomas dismounted his men and took the posi- 
tion assigned in rear of the battery, which was 
the focus of attack. His men lay down in that 
most dangerous position on the line, as a heavy 
fire from the woods was centered on the battery. 
The bullets of the enemy were striking his men 
in the back, plowing down the spine and making 



226 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

exit at the hips. Thomas then went to the gen- 
eral and told him that he could move his men out 
of the direct fire on the battery, fifty yards to the 
right, save his men from unnecessary exposure 
and protect the battery equally as well, and the 
general told him to use his own judgment. 

This fierce battle continued all day, and at 
night the armies retreated in opposite directions. 
The commanding generals and the rank and file 
of both armies were Kentuckians possessed of 
equal courage. The Federals after that day's 
hard fighting pursued the Confederates no fur- 
ther and they made their way back to Abingdon, 
Va., without further molestation, whilst the Fed- 
erals retreated to Knoxville. 

That retreat of twenty-five hundred, pursued 
by ten thousand, flanking and pressing them day 
and night, was a masterly performance. The 
Confederates whipped greatly superior numbers 
the first day and were left masters of the field. 
Fresh soldiers were thrown on their flanks and 
in such superior numbers as to compel falling 
back. Giltner's disobedience of repeated orders 
won the great battle of the first day. To have 
obeyed orders by wasting his limited ammuni- 
tion for his small repeating guns by firing at the 
enemy beyond their range would have caused the 
rout of the Confederate army. 



COMMANDING A BATTLE. 



The war between the states, the greatest civic 
and military drama of the world, was fruitful 
of many a weird story of pathos and tragedy, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 227 

'^^pointing a moral and adorning a grandfather^s 
tale" of thrilling interest to the descendants of a 
heroic race, who revolutionized the world in ev- 
ery department of its greatest achievement. To 
have been an active participant in that revolu- 
tion, which disturbed and shook the earth from 
center to circumference, was to become fertilized 
in that spirit of heroic literature which illumi- 
nates a nation's patriotic highway and lends in- 
spiration to its genius for epic poesy and song. 

Historians too often overlook the spirit and 
nerve texture of the subaltern soldier, without 
which more battles would be lost than won. 
They focalize the grand aggregate of achievement 
and place its laurel crown to the credit of the 
commander. If we drop our eyes from the apex 
of the monumental tower to the foundation 
which supports the dome, we obtain a clearer in- 
sight to the genius which creates and sustains 
its durability. Those considerations often lend 
a charm and throw a halo over the subordinate 
soldier in action, whose history passes with his 
body into the tomb, where it is swallowed up by 
the waves of oblivion. 

The profound student of history follows up 
the rise and fall of nations by scrutinizing the 
germinal sources from which they spring. This 
commences with the family organization, which 
includes all the domestic relations, customs, 
laws, habits, food, clothing, habitations, agricul- 
ture and pastoral pursuits; religion, patriotism 
and every stage of development and expansion, 
with the national type is fixed with that degree 
of certitude and national growth in its regular 
order of progression. This line of investigation 



228 Reminiscenoes of the Civil War. 

leads the student to a correct analysis of the 
philosophy of history. In no other way can we 
indulge a rational hope to accumulate that ac- 
curacy of knowledge which satisfies the inquir- 
ing mind and lifts it above superficial attain- 
ment. The record of dynasties, great battles and 
the intrigues of courts, without clear insight to 
the social order on which they are based, is 
wholly insufficient to satisfy the demands of a 
deeper philosophy. 

Armed neutrality was proclaimed by Kentucky 
in the incipient stages of the revolution, but 
found impossible to maintain, because neither of 
the parties to that war paid any attention to the 
doctrine of state rights in the great emergency 
which confronted both sections. Her citizenship 
divided and rallied under opposing flags with 
the greatest tenacity of purpose, emphasized on 
many battlefields. This deflection or corollary 
to the base line of tragic episode lies at the base 
of this story, and the lesson it conveys is alike 
applicable to that trend of thought and action 
which pervades more or less every chapter in this 
volume. 

Colonel Charles Hanson, a dashing and class- 
ically educated lawyer of Kentucky, young and 
handsome, with flashing eagle eye, commanding 
physique and fascinating address, commanded a 
regiment of Kentucky cavalry in the Federal 
service. The writer speaks from knowledge de- 
rived from personal acquaintance with him. 

Charles was the brother of General Robert W. 
Hanson, of Confederate fame, who was killed 
December 31, 1862, at the head of his brigade in 
the first day's battle of Murfreesboro. These 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 229 

nable brothers, "one of the blue, the other of the 
gray," recruited their respective regiments near 
the same locality in their native state. 

In 1864 Colonel Hanson with his regiment re- 
cruited from "the dark and bloody ground,'' so 
famous in frontier history, was sent to capture 
and destroy the Confederate salt works near Ab- 
ingdon, Va. Captain John H. Thomas, of the 
Fourth Kentucky Confederate cavalry, was 
guarding the salt works against assault and im- 
pending destruction. Here again Greek met 
Greek, each impelled by high heroic resolve. Cap- 
tain Thomas took position on the crest of a hill 
fronting the Federal line of approach by way of 
an adjoining hill in near proximity, but of less 
altitude than the Confederate position, which 
gave the latter the advantage, and Thomas util- 
ized it to the utmost. 

Each commander dismounted, left their horses 
to the rear and took their respective positions, 
sheltered as much as possible by the crest of the 
hills separating them, and in easy rifle shot ; but 
the firing line of each was unavoidably exposed. 
Hanson brought on the attack with spirit and 
commendable heroism. To lessen the exposure 
each command lay flat on the ground except 
when in the act of firing. Whenever a head ap- 
peared above the crest which protected it, it in- 
stantly became a target for the sharpshooter. 
The commanders of each handled a gun and 
shared the dangers of their subordinates. 
Colonel Hanson and Captain Thomas occupied 
positions immediately fronting each other, and 
both were often exposed to fire. Colonel Hanson 
was soon very badly wounded, and the pressure 



230 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

on his line was so great that his command gave 
way and retreated, leaving him on the field, 
where he was captured. 

When the battle was over Captain Thomas 
came to his relief and assistance as soon as pos- 
sible. The wound was very serious. A bullet 
had entered his back near the point of the shoul- 
der, ranged down his spine, making its exit 
through the thigh. 

Colonel Hanson said: 

"Captain Thomas, you are the man who shot 
me. I was looking directly at you when you 
fired. I saw the flash of your gun, and in an 
instant the ball entered my body." 

Captain Thomas replied : 

"I don't know whether the shot from my gun 
or that from some other soldier hit you." 

"Yes, captain," the colonel replied ; "there can 
be no possible mistake about it. I was looking 
at you when you fired, and there can be no rea- 
sonable doubt as to who shot me ; but it was hon- 
orably done in reputable warfare, and I have 
no reason to complain or censure you for ac- 
complishing what I was trying to do when fate 
favored you and made a victim of me. But, cap- 
tain, I am suffering great physical pain and don^t 
know whether the wound is mortal or not. Send 
for your surgeon at once and relieve me if pos- 
sible." 

The captain told him that the surgeons were 
some distance away attending the sick and 
wounded at Emory and Henry College, the near- 
est hospital, but said : 

"I will have a litter prepared and send you 
there as soon as possible." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 231 

He was carried to the railroad and carefully 
and tenderly placed on a mattress and carried 
by rail to the hospital, accompanied by Captain 
Thomas. A surgeon was called immediately, and 
the meeting was sorrowful, joyful and pathetic 
to a degree rarely witnessed on such occasions, 
paradoxical as it may seem. The Confederate 
surgeon and the colonel had been classmates at 
college and much attached to each other. The 
vicissitudes of war and revolution had divided 
their destinies but had not alienated their friend- 
ship and respect. Their education and accom- 
plishments lifted them above such influences. It 
is to be regretted that the flight of years, which 
brings infirmity of memory in its train of evils, 
so that the name of the surgeon has escaped this 
record. After a painful illness Colonel Hanson 
recovered. 

Soon after the conclusion of the war Captain 
Thomas and Colonel Hanson again met on their 
native heath at Winchester, Ky., as warm 
friends, and the colonel in recognition of the cap- 
tain's chivalrous and courteous bearing on the 
battlefield said to him : 

"Captain, in the chaotic and much disturbed 
condition of affairs, you may possibly get in 
trouble, though I hope not ; but if you do, remem- 
ber that you have a friend at court who will lend 
every energy to serve you." 

The colonel continued : 

"Captain, as the war is now over, I will tell 
you of the distress and danger I felt whilst a 
prisoner of war, which exceeded that inflicted by 
the dangerous wound ^ou "-ave me. Previous to 
our battle, I had been captured by your ver^ 



232 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

alert and enterprising General John H. Morgan, 
and was by him paroled. I had been charged 
with a violation of my parole, which, if true, car- 
ried with it the death penalty under the articles 
of war. Whilst a prisoner I greatly feared that 
the Confederate authorities would prefer the 
charge and try me by court martial, though I 
was not guilty under a conservative construction 
of the articles of war. But in the heat and pas- 
sion of that hour it was an extremely hazardous 
juncture to plant myself on ethical technique in 
its doubtful application to the vigorous articles 
of war. But the subject was never mentioned, 
and my alarm amounted to nothing but a tem- 
pest in a teapot." 

The writer became well acquainted with 
Colonel Hanson after the war, and it affords us 
pleasure to testify to his culture, courteous bear- 
ing, ability and irreproachable character. We 
measured and broke lances at the bar when we 
were in the i^rime of manhood. Am equally well 
acquainted with Captain Thomas, from whom I 
obtain the thread of this historic narrative, and 
elsewhere in this volume have attested his high 
and chivalrous character as a soldier and citizen. 



THE BATTLE OF MARION. 



Prefatory to a clear insight of that which fol- 
lows it should be stated that the Fourth Ken- 
tucky Confederate cavalry, often with Major 
General John H. Morgan's command, was com- 
manded by Colonel H. L. Giltner, afterwards 
promoted to a brigadier's commission. The lieu- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 233 

tenant colonel was Daniel Pryor and the major 
was Noah Parker. Captain John H. Thomas 
commanded Company A of that celebrated regi- 
ment. 

After the assassination of General Morgan, 
September 4, 1864, at Greenville, Tenn., General 
Basil Duke, of Kentucky, brother-in-law to Gen- 
eral Morgan, succeeded to the brigade command, 
and was soon thereafter assigned to the com- 
mand of Major General George B. Crittenden, 
then stationed at Abingdon, Va., to guard the 
Confederate salt works near that place, which 
was the object of repeated and persistent 
efforts by the Federals to capture and destroy. 

General Duke was greatly beloved by General 
Morgan and all the soldiers of the command for 
his courage, ability to command, and uniform 
kindness to his spirited comrades, and he was 
first with General Morgan in their frequent coun- 
cils of war. The heroic action of this command 
under General Crittenden has already been given 
herein. 

After the celebrated battle commanded on the 
Federal side by General Thomas J. Crittenden, 
and by his brother. General George B., on the 
Confederate side, from motives of delicacy 
George B. was assigned to another command and 
was superseded by Major General John C. Breck- 
enridge, thus avoiding the singular contingency 
which might soon again place these brothers in 
hostile combat, though each discharged the full 
measure of his duty without regard to that re- 
lation. 

A large quota of the soldiers, and especially 
the Fourth Kentucky cavalry, were from General 



2 34 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Breckenridge's old congressional district, and 
he was personally acquainted with most of them. 
He was equipped with eminent social qualities, 
adorned, embellished and rounded off with rare 
conversational powers, a combination of cultured 
gifts which rendered him magnetic and a great 
favorite, whether in the salon where culture and 
refinement of ladies presided, on the hustings 
where political honors were the prize contended 
for, or the halls of congress. He carried these 
beautiful and winning embellishments of char- 
acter and individuality into the army with him, 
without making any effort to subject and subor- 
dinate them to the rigid discipline of the camp. 
He would often, when opportunity permitted the 
relaxation, sit on a log or at the root of a tree, 
cross his limbs and talk to a squad of eager lis- 
tening soldiers with that graceful ease, urbanity 
and polish of diction which always distinguished 
his personality and magnetic individuality. He 
confided much in the ability and judgment of 
Captain Thomas, who sometimes took the liberty 
to disobey his orders, when perfectly assured that 
the order would not have been given had General 
Breckenridge known the disaster to which action 
under the order would lead, and in all such cases 
he generously condoned the disobedience. 

In December, 1864, when it was cold with snow 
and ice on the ground, General Breckenridge, 
with but one piece of field artillery, became im- 
patient, and instead of occupying the defensive 
with all of its advantages, advanced his army 
from Abingdon, Va., on the Wytheville road to 
drive back the approaching Federal advance on 
the salt springs, with General Duke in command 



Remmiscences of the Civil War. 235 

of his cavalry, and met the enemy near the town of 
Marion, Va., drawn up in line of battle on the 
south fork of the Holston river, with a full regi- 
ment of negro troops in the front line of battle 
immediately facing the Fourth Kentucky cav- 
alry, with a second line of battle composed of 
white troops in the rear of the negro troops. It 
wa« the first negro troops this cavalry had ever 
met on the field of battle. It was natural for the 
southern soldier to feel intensely bitter at the 
sight of his slave in arms against him, as well as 
for the power which had placed him in the field, 
after the declaration of President Lincoln and 
those high in authority under him that it was 
no purpose of the Federal government to inter- 
fere with the institution of slavery which was 
protected under the constitution by solemn cov- 
enant of a common fatherhood. 

At this sight for the first time, under the im- 
pulse of pending battle against a force superior 
in numbers, the feelings of those Confederate 
veterans of a hundred battles became as intense 
as the demoniac flames of hades and their resolve 
to overwhelm them as strong as an earthquake. 
This feeling was intensified when they recog- 
nized a southern man in command of the negro 
troops — Colonel Boles, of Louisville, Ky. — who 
commanded a brigade on that occasion, General 
Stoneman being chief in command. The lines of 
battle were so near together that Colonel Boles 
was distinctly heard urging the negro troops to 
advance, and the reply of their white officers that 
they could not force them to advance, at which 
Colonel Boles became enraged and swore like a 
trooper in the hearing of the Confederates. 



236 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

General Duke at that stage gave the order to 
advance slowly, draw the enemy's fire and then 
charge before the second fire could be delivered. 
The impetuous charge broke the black line into 
confused fragments. Two hundred negroes were 
killed and many more wounded. 

Whilst this quick and terrific slaughter was in 
progress Colonel Boles coolly sat on his horse 
under a hickory tree, relying on his second line 
of white troops in the rear to come up and restore 
the fortunes of the hour. He was a conspicuous 
mark, and Captain Thomas and one of his men 
fired at him at the same time and he fell from his 
horse dead. They won the battle. The Federals 
retreated to the south bank of the south fork of 
Holston river, but a little way off. Many negro 
troops were captured and treated as prisoners of 
war. One of these negro prisoners snatched a 
gun from one of the Confederate soldiers and 
knocked his brains out, and was instantly shot 
down. 

The Confederates went into camp on the north 
bank of the river, facing the superior force on the 
south bank, but the Federals, eight thousand 
strong, held possession of the long covered bridge 
spanning the river, and planted a battery of guns 
commanding and sweeping the bridge, which was 
strongly supported by infantry in the rear. A 
very strong picket line occupied the banks of the 
river, facing each other within short range. As 
stated above, the long bridge spanning the river 
was covered in like a house from end to end. Cap- 
tain Thomas commanded the picket line extend- 
ing above and below the bridge so strongly 
guarded by the enemy. The night was dark and 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 237 

cold. The Confederate pickets were within fifty 
yards of the bridge, through which Federal of- 
ficers were riding constantly. The ever alert 
Thomas crept up to the bridge on all fours and 
listened to the Federal officers who patroled the 
bridge in pairs. From the conversation of these 
officers he learned that a battery was at the other 
end of the bridge, loaded with grape and canister. 
The horses which were ridden over the bridge by 
the officers had their feet muffled to prevent noise 
and discovery. After obtaining this knowledge 
of the situation, the captain retraced his steps to 
a point on the river bank about one hundred 
yards from the bridge. There he ordered two of 
his men to advance to the bridge and kill the of- 
ficers patroling it, each one to select his man 
before firing. They accomplished their mission 
and no more enemies had the temerity to take 
their places, but firing with small arms was kept 
up all night by the Federals. 

The headquarters of General Breckenridge 
was a mile to the rear, on the macadamized road 
leading through the bridge to the town of Marion, 
near one mile from the bridge, beyond the Fed- 
eral pickets. A short time after the two officers 
of the enemy were killed at the north entrance 
of the bridge, an episode occurred which forcibly 
illustrates the dangerous fallacy of giving orders 
on a battlefield, particularly at night, without 
knowing either the strength or position of the 
enemy. 

At ten o'clock at night Peter Avrett, of Gen- 
eral Breckenridge's staff, came galloping at full 
speed over the macadamized road, with fire flash- 
ing from the rocks, caused by the concussion of 



238 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

the horse's shoes with the rocks, to a point within 
fifty yards of the bridge. Then he hallooed at the 
top of his voice: 

"Captain Thomas, where are you?'' in easy 
hearing of the enemy's pickets. 

The captain replied in a voice as low as he 
could to be heard by the courier, and changed 
his position as quick as possible to escape the fire 
of the enemy. He scarcely had time to get out 
of the range of a volley fired at the point from 
which his voice was heard in answering the 
courier. 

The impetuous Peter hallooed out loud enough 
to be heard along the enemy's picket line : 

"General Breckenridge orders you to charge 
the enemy by way of the bridge." 

Thomas answered in a loud voice purposely, 
that the enemy might hear him: 

"Go back and tell General Breckenridge that 
I will not make the charge." 

Then he advanced cautiously to the indiscreet 
mercurial Peter, and in a voice inaudible to the 
enemy told him the situation. He told him that 
to charge through the bridge would be to lose 
every man in his command; that they would be 
raked by a battery charged with grape and can- 
ister and supported in the rear with a strong 
force of infantry. That under such conditions 
he would be compelled to charge in a compact 
mass within the limits of the enclosed bridge, and 
it would result in the slaughter and loss of all 
of his men without the least compensating ad- 
vantage. 

Peter returned with the message to General 
Breckenridge, who sent him back to the captain 



Beminiscences of the Civil War, 239 

with instructions to exercise his own judgment in 
the critical position in which he was placed. A 
wise response, indicating that benevolence of 
character which never deserted General Breck- 
enridge. But if Bonaparte had been in his posi- 
tion and had given the order to charge, no matter 
what the result, he would have had his captain 
court martialed and shot for disobedience of 
orders, and would have meted out the same pun- 
ishment to the indiscreet Peter, no matter how 
disastrous the result of the charge. The consid- 
erate and humane Breckenridge acted wisely 
under the circumstances. 

General Breckenridge had but one very indif- 
ferent piece of small artillery, which he planted 
in front to play on the bridge next morning. The 
most expert cannoner in the army could not have 
hit a house two hundred yards off with the worn 
out, crazy gun, thus playing a lone hand. Gen- 
eral George B. Cosby, of Kentucky, rode up, 
watched the handling of the gun, and concluded 
that the wild shots were the fault of the lieuten- 
ant handling it. He made the air blue with the 
strongest Saxon language — too strong for type — 
drove the lieutenant from the gun, took charge of 
it and aimed it at the bridge himself, and hit a 
rail fence seventy-five yards from the bridge and 
sent several rails flying over Captain Thomas' 
command, and the captain dispatched a courier 
for information to ascertain whether the general 
was firing at the bridge, the Federal flank, or at 
his command. General Cosby acknowledged the 
corn and recalled the lieutenant to take charge 
of it. 



240 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

The Confederates failed to move or dislodge 
the enemy after fighting until late in the evening. 
That night General Breckenridge gave an order 
that General Stoneman could not have improved 
on for the benefit of his own army. It was to re- 
treat, make a flank movement, cross the Holston 
to the enemy's side, and get in his rear with a far 
inferior force. This left the road to the salt 
springs open. 

The Federal general was as much delighted as 
astonished at the irreparable movement, and has- 
tened on to the springs and captured the salt 
works without opposition to amount to a respect- 
able skirmish. Had a Morgan, Jackson, Stewart 
or Forrest been in command, no such disastrous 
blunder would have been made. The southern 
people will always love and cherish the noble 
character of John C. Breckinridge, whilst they 
will regret his deficiency in the command of 
armies. 

Next morning, after the first day's fight, some 
of the Confederate officers rode back to the bat- 
tlefield where they had killed the two hundred 
negroes, and found a group of citizens there, but 
the dead bodies of the negroes had disappeared. 
On being asked what disposition had been made 
of the dead bodies, one of the old citizens 
answered : 

"We worked the road with them." 

"How is that?" an officer asked; and was 
pointed to a ravine crossing the road at right 
angles and informed that the bodies had been 
thrown in the ravine and covered up, thus elevat- 
ing the depression in the public highway. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 241 

A LITTLE WIT AND HUMOK. 



Long after the cessation of hostilities, two 
Irishmen who had fought on opposite sides at the 
first battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, were dis- 
cussing the memorable events of that battle. 

"Well,'' said Pat O'Flannigan, who wore the 
gray, to Barney O'Rourke, who wore the blue, 
"can ye tell me anything about the best runners 
that day/' 

"Oh, yis ; there was Tim O'Donnell, from Bos- 
ting, who boistad that he could bate any mon in 
the army running, and whin the time coom to run 
at Bull Run — as sure enough it did — I'll tell ye, 
Tim started for Washington and said, ^Coom on, 
boys!' and he showed 'em what legs were made 
for in time of war. He took the lade ahead of 
Miles O'Riley, who had niver bate anybody ba- 
fore on the run. But when thim shells lit into 
the boys, he got down to his worruk, and it was 
but a few minits until he passed Tim; and Tim 
said he passed him just like he was standing still, 
and was the first man afoot to git to Washing- 
ton." 

"Well, well," said he of the gray, "I'm sorry 
for the honor of ould Ireland. I thought Irish- 
men niver run." 

"Well," said he of the blue, "I can tell ye that 
thim that didn't run for the honor of ould Ireland 
are there yit." 

"That's it, is it. What did ye do wid yer fine 
guns and yer haversacks, and yer cartridge boxes 
and yer cannon, and what did yer brave officers 
do?" 



242 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

"Well, the officers sade how things were goin' ; 
and as thej always get the best of everything 
that's goin', they lit out first, and it was our duty 
to follow the officers and kape up wid um, and so 
we discharged our duty to save the honor of ould 
Ireland. We discivered our dooty and wint at it 
dacintly, and to keep up wid the officers we had 
to sail on without extra weight, and we left all 
them things ye mention to save the honor of ould 
Ireland," 

"Ye spalpeen! Ye be afther telling me ould 
Ireland's honor got doon in ye legs and staid 
there wid ye back to the heneme an' yer face to 
where ye com from. To h — 1 wid ye. I tell ye, 
ould Ireland left her honor wid ould Stonewall 
Jacksin, an' he kep it; an' sure he did, an' he 
didn't kape it in his legs either." 

J. P. Osborne, a stripling of a boy, and a good 
soldier, of the First South Carolina rifles, was 
first stationed on the picket line near Richmond, 
Va. The password or countersign was Rich- 
mond. General Lee and staff came along. Os- 
borne cried, "Halt !" presented his gun and said, 
"You can't pass here until you say Richmond." 

Steptoe Washington tells the following on one 
of his comrades of the Forty Seventh Virginia. 

Old Tom Mussleman, as the boys called him, 
was a very singular and eccentric genius from 
the mountain districts of Virgina, as indifferent 
and careless of dress as he was of danger. With- 
out any knowledge of literature or letters, he 
neither understood or appreciated jokes or wit 
that passed current in camp. Nothing but plain 
matters of fact, told in unvarnished language, 
passed current with Old Tom, and he was never 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 243 

known to prevaricate or depart from the trutli. 
If he had been on trial for his life he would have 
told the facts as he understood them, whether 
for or against himself, and no braver soldier was 
ever led into battle. 

Old Tom was in the hospital sick when the bat- 
tle of Cold Harbor was fought, and his com- 
rades annoyed him very much when he rejoined 
his command, by plainly insinuating that he 
feigned sickness to keep out of the battle — a pure 
fiction made up for amusement, and not one of 
them believed it. 

But Old Tom did not see it in that light, and 
took it very much to heart. When the line of bat- 
tle was formed at Mechanicsville, Old Tom was 
a little tardy in falling into line, and when he 
did come presented an appearance in marked con- 
trast from his comrades. His short white shirt 
and old short jeans pants did not meet, lap over 
or fraternize, and left about three inches of his 
person exposed. General Field, who looked the 
superb soldier, was in front sitting on his horse 
when Old Tom took his place in the line. His 
comrades commenced laughing at his odd make 
up, and "Look at Old Gray!" ran up and down 
the lines. 

Old Tom said : 

"I have stripped for the fight, and will be thar 
to mix with 'em when some of you laughing cow- 
ards are hunting the rayer I'll bet twenty coon- 
skins that ye don't stick to it as close as Old Tom. 
And right here whar General Field can hear it, 
let me tell you in arnest that I am goin' to shoot 
down the fust one I see breaking for the rayer. 



244 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

Ye have just got to stick or die ather in front or 
rayer an' do yer job well." 

General Field, although of earnest and digni- 
fied mien, could not suppress a laugh, but he 
turned his head to avoid Old Tom's observation. 
He knew that he had no better soldier than Old 
Tom. 

At that moment the cannon from both sides 
opened a terrific duel, and Old Tom said : 

"Listen to the music. We've got to dance 
now." 

Late in the evening, when the battle was over, 
and won by the Confederates, Old Tom went over 
the battlefield and gathered up eight haversacks 
from the dead bodies of the yankees simply to 
get provision, as he had left his rations when 
stripping for the fray, and was very hungry. He 
found sugar, coffee, meat and bread in the haver- 
sacks, and went off to the edge of the timber, 
made a fire, boiled coffee and cooked his meat 
and had a bountiful repast. Comrades who had 
laughed at "Old Gray" in the morning gathered 
around him and asked to share the meal. But 
Old Tom said: 

"No ; you have tried your best to make me out 
a coward and disgrace me. If ye were gentle- 
men, I'd give ye the last bite I had and be glad 
to do it. Go and get rations like I did." 



FERDINAND STEPTOE WASHINGTON. 



Ferdinand Steptoe Washington, a private in 
the Forty-seventh Virginia infantry, is of historic 
and heroic lineage, descended from Samuel 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 245 

Washington, the brother of George, "the father 
of his country." The Steptoe family, prominent 
in the early history of Virginia, was related to 
the Washingtons — hence introduced as a prom- 
inent cognomen in the genealogical tree of the 
Washingtons. From youth to old age he has been 
called Steptoe, an abbreviation of which he has 
always been proud because of its family associa- 
tion, from colonial down to the present time. 

His features bore marked resemblance to 
George the Great. He has graphically described 
a multitude of martial incidents to the writer 
which happened in his career as a soldier, which 
are the foundations on which the story of his life 
as a soldier is based. For brevity we call him by 
the name which has followed him through life — 
Steptoe. 

Steptoe, in the battle of Seven Pines, or 
Fair Oaks, May 31 and June 1, 1862, was 
in General Pettigrew's brigade. The sever- 
ity of this battle is attested by the loss of 
the Confederates, which amounted to near five 
thousand men. Steptoe on the evening of the 
second day was struck a glancing blow on the 
head above the left ear by a minnie ball, which 
cut the scalp and grazed the bone without frac- 
turing the skull. The shock felled him to the 
earth, where he lay unconscious and bleeding 
freely for a length of time. When he began to 
revive, before he recovered his speech, he heard 
the speech of comrades around him, regretting 
his death, commenting on his lineage and char- 
acter as a soldier. 

"There lies poor Steptoe dead, shot in the head 
with his face to the foe. A better soldier never 



246 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

fought in the army of Virginia. Another said, 
"He was worthy of the noble name he bears.'' 
Another, "Yes, no better blood was ever spilled 
on a battlefield !" Another, "He was free hearted 
and nobly generous; he would always divide his 
last dollar or ration with his comrades." 

Not yet able to speak, but could hear, recov- 
ering slowly from the concussion and terrible 
shock, he rose to a sitting posture on the ground, 
and said : 

"Boys, who or what hit me such a terrible 
blow?" 

"You were shot in the head and we all thought 
you dead, but you have rose up as from the grave, 
and you can not feel more rejoiced than we do at 
the prospect of recovery," said his comrades, two 
of whom had been detailed to remove his body. 
"And," they continued, "we will take you to the 
hospital." 

"No, indeed, you won't," he said. "Wash my 
head and bandage it, and hunt up my gun. The 
battlefield is my place, and there I will stay as 
long as I can stand up and pull a trigger. Cow- 
ards go to the hospital with slight wounds, but 
Steptoe don't belong to that brigade." 

An hour after the occurrence he was again in 
line of battle, a gruesome sight, with his head 
bandaged, the cloth saturated, with blood still 
dripping down his cheek and saturating his 
clothes. 

At sunset of that bloody day. May 31, 1862, his 
captain, Samuel Brooks, asked him if he had ever 
seen President Davis, and pointing to the ambu- 
lance corps said, "There he is." The president 
was standing up to his knees in mud and water, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 247 

assisting wounded soldiers to the ambulance. He 
was covered with mud and water, and manifested 
the greatest solicitude for the suffering soldiers. 
As each driver drove off the president cautioned 
them to be very careful in driving over rough 
ground; to avoid as far as possible the infliction 
of pain. This was no unusual sight. The presi- 
dent was on and within the firing line exposed to 
danger every day during the seven days' fight 
around Richmond, often with General Lee and 
staff, at other times with Jackson, Longstreet, 
the two Hills and others, and often in the hos- 
pitals, ministering to the wounded. 

The Confederate losses in the battle of the 
Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, as it is also called, 
was largely in excess of four thousand men, and 
it may justly be called a drawn battle, although 
the Confederates claim it as a victory. Exag- 
gerations of this character, by Federals as well as 
Confederates, are to be deplored. They confuse 
the historian and leave posterity in doubt; they 
cloud our faith in the veracity of the leaders who 
make these reports. These difficulties are en- 
countered all along the line, from Bull Run to 
Appomattox, in greater or less degree. This re- 
gretted infirmity of both war and politics is the 
common heritage of mankind, and has spread its 
baneful influence over every era of history, with- 
out any perceptible abatement, since the ro- 
mances and legends of remote antiquity began to 
veil the truth in clouds of doubt. 

The battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, was 
the opening effort to raise the seige of Richmond 
and a series of the bloodiest battles of modern 
times. General McClellan, then commanding 



248 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the armies of the United States, had accumulated 
vast resources in men, arms of every standard, 
munitions and supplies in great abundance. The 
James river was crowded with transports and 
gunboats, almost within cannon shot of Rich- 
mond — a line of Federal fortifications extending 
from Mechanicsville to Malvern Hill on the north 
bank of the James river, some ten miles below 
Richmond, a distance of fifteen miles, with strong 
fortifications, mounted with two hundred can- 
non of all calibers, and supported with two hun- 
dred thousand soldiers. 

General Lee was defending Richmond with 
eighty thousand men of all arms, leaving twenty- 
five thousand to guard Richmond. Malvern Hill, 
on the north bank of the James, slopes down to 
the margin of the river and rises to an altitude 
overlooking Richmond and the greater portion 
of the mighty conflicts during the seven days^ 
fighting. Naturally it was a position of great 
strength and advantage to the Federal army, 
before it was fortified and made almost impreg- 
nable by the Federals. The Chickahominy river, 
rather a large creek, both sides of which was then 
occupied by the Federals, presented the gravest 
difiiculties in the pathway of an attacking army. 
Each valley of that now famous stream was cov- 
ered in its largest area with morass. A dense 
jungle of undergrowth and trees, felled by the 
Federals, created immense difficulties and ob- 
stacles in the pathway of the Confederates. It 
was spanned by only three bridges within 
the area of the advancing Confederates, 
who left their own fortifications with fifty- 
five thousand men to drive two hundred thou- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 249 

sand troops from their fortifications. Added to 
these great difficulties, it is stated by General 
Lee that neither he nor his generals possessed a 
sufficient knowledge of the topography and phys- 
ical conformation of the ground when the battles 
were fought. 

This confused divisions, brigades and corps, 
which were unable to afford relief and support 
at very critical and sometimes decisive moments 
of battle. Advantages won by undaunted cour- 
age were sometimes lost for want of necessary 
support. 

The lowlands flanking the bottoms and mo- 
rasses of the Chickahominy rise into elevations 
as they recede from the stream, which were 
frowning with cannon and forts supported by 
largely superior numbers of Federals. The forest 
fronting most of these elevations facing the jun- 
gles and morasses of the Chickahominy were 
felled, and the charging Confederates were en- 
tangled, and their lines broken, in pushing their 
way to storm frowning forts. Occasionally there 
were openings and clear spaces in front of the 
Federal lines, but they were exceptions and not 
the rule. Briefly stated, such were the conditions 
which confronted General Lee and his army when 
he left his entrenchments around Richmond and 
took the open field with fifty thousand men to 
drive McClellan and his two hundred thousand 
men from such a stronghold. 

The vast difficulties and transcendant achieve- 
ment of success against such obstacles and forces 
places the military genius of Lee and the heroism 
of the Confederate soldier in the highest rank, 
and will challenge the admiration of mankind 



250 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

until letters and civilization perish. By this we 
do not mean to indicate that General Lee's mili- 
tary genius stands above criticism. His Gettys- 
burgh campaign, from which the downfall of the 
Confederacy dates, was a mistake, and his fail- 
ure to press General Burnside on the night of De- 
cember 13, 1862, when Hancock's corps was cov- 
ering his retreat across the Rappahannock, was 
a mistake which General Lee impliedly confesses 
in his report of that battle. "I thought the deci- 
sive action was to be fought the next day," says 
that great and magnanimous general. But more 
of this when we speak of that battle. 

Steptoe was in the battles of Gams' Mill and 
Malvern Hill with his regiment, the Forty-sev- 
enth Virginia. The brigade was commanded 
by General Charles W. Field, of Kentucky, 
as brave a general as ever led men into 
battle. This brigade was held in reserve for sev- 
eral hours after the commencement of the battle, 
under a heavy cannonade from the gunboats in 
the James river, and batteries in front. Shell and 
ball came thick, like the thunderbolts of Jove, 
and did much damage before the brigade was per- 
mitted to advance or fire a gun. Nothing so 
much annoys and exasperates soldiers as to be 
thus held under fire for several hours without 
being able to return it. Thus stood his troops 
when General Field was called to headquarters 
in the rear. On his return to the command he 

overtook Captain G , of the Forty Seventh 

Virginia, one half mile in the rear of his regi- 
ment, walking at a snail's pace with one shoe on 
and one foot without any shoe. 

The general inquired: 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 251 

"What is the reason you are not with your 
command? Why are you skulking behind like a 
coward?" 

The captain replied : 

"I have lost one shoe in the mud and can't get 
along any faster. It hurts my foot severely to 
move at this pace." 

The general, in the impetuosity of his nature, 
replied : 

"You have thrown it away to keep out of bat- 
tle, you coward. Go to the guard house and stay 
there. I don't command cowards." 

The captain retired. 

When near his brigade, amidst the whizzing of 
cannon balls and bursting shells, he met one of 
his private soldiers rushing to the rear (Mr. S — ) 
crying at the top of his voice, "General, I am 
wounded. General, I am badly wounded; send 
me to the rear." 

The general stopped to investigate the nature 
of his wound, and a wound could not be found. 
The irate general struck him a severe blow on 
the head with his saber, and ordered him to re- 
port at the guard house. After the seven days' 
battles were over, they were court martialed for 
cowardice and drummed out of the service. They 
had fought bravely at Seven Pines and other en- 
gagements without the slightest evidence of cow- 
ardice. 

Defeated veterans on a thousand battlefields 
have been seized with fear of death, panic 
stricken and demoralized as much as these two 
men. General Grant's army at the first day's 
battle of Shiloh were panic stricken and hud- 
dled like sheep under the banks of the Tennessee 



252 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

river, but next day they were veterans. It is 
wrong to blast a soldier's reputation for a tem- 
porary panic, from which he will soon recover — 
to rally them under such conditions is the office 
of commanders. Millions of the bravest soldiers 
of the world in all ages have become panic 
stricken, and yet recovered the status of heroes, 
and the chances are that if a little time had been 
given them they would have charged with their 
comrades on the batteries of Malvern Hill the 
next day. 

General Field rode up to his command and 
placed the disgraced captain's company under 
the command of Captain Green. At two p. m. 
these reserves, so long under artillery fire, were 
rushed to the front to reinforce exhausted sol- 
diers, who were being forced back, contesting 
every inch of the ground, with large numbers of 
wounded and dead comrades, and enemies scat- 
tered all over that field of blood. The brigade, 
with the wild rebel yell, rushed forward in des- 
perate charge, with a feeling of great relief at 
being, after weary hours, able to get to work with 
the enemy, whose fire they had stood so long with- 
out returning it. That martial field of glory and 
death was covered with '^those who wore the blue 
and with those who wore the gray." 

Late in the evening, when the conflict for that 
day was expiring, George West, of the Forty-sev- 
enth Virginia, a private, as brave and cool in 
battle as if on dress parade, was fifty yards in 
advance of his regiment, firing as fast as possible 
with deliberate aim, when he was struck in the 
left center of the forehead with a minnie ball, 
which passed through his head. His brains oozed 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 253 

out on temple and cheek, but he did not fall. Life 
was fast ebbing away; his soul was blooming 
for its astral flight. His senses did not desert 
him until the last five of the twenty minutes of 
life left. He put the butt of his gun to the 
ground, used the weapon as a walking stick to 
support his tottering frame back to his regi- 
mental line, where his general and comrades 
were. Firing for a few minutes ceased; all eyes 
were turned on him. As he stagfg-ered up, dying, 
he said : 

"Boys, I have answered to the last roll call. 
My time is up. I bid you all a last farewell. If 
any of you live to see my mother and father, tell 
them how their boy met a soldier's death, and 
tarry till you tell them he did not dishonor their 
name." 

His brother William's arm was taken off by 
a cannon ball in a subsequent battle, and he lived 
to re-enter a cottage where heroes were reared 
and sent to the field. 

The charge and storming of Malvern Hill the 
next day was one of the bloodiest battles in the 
annals of war. Very peculiar things sometimes 
happen during the progress of a battle. The Con- 
federates, Field's brigade, charged through an 
open space to a skirt of woods on Malvern Hill, 
where they came face to face with the enemy, in 
which position a captain in the Federal lines be- 
came panic stricken, threw up his open hands 
to the Confederates, stooped very low and ran 
into their lines, entering where Steptoe stood, 
hallooing : 

"I am your prisoner; send me to the rear 
quick." 



254 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

One minute after the captain's performance a 
squad of twenty-five were captured by Field's 
brigade, including the Federal general, McCall, 
who earnestly vowed that his command was so 
broken and demoralized by the awful volleys re- 
ceived that he got lost in trying to find and rally 
them, and that in hunting for his men he ran into 
the Confederate lines before he knew where he 
was. General A. P. Hi IPs headquarters were 
then about three hundred yards in rear of his fir- 
ing line. General McCall had been a college 
classmate of General Hill, to whom he was sent 
after surrendering his sword to General Field. 
General Hill shook hands with him in the most 
cordial manner and said : 

"I am happy to see you." 

General McCall responded: 

"I am always glad to meet an old friend, but 
there are a great variety of situations where our 
meeting and greeting would be much more pleas- 
ant to me." 

"Certainly," replied General Hill, "but I will 
endeavor to make you as comfortable as possible 
under the circumstances. The favors of war are 
fickle and uncertain. Reversed positions might 
have made me your prisoner. Sit down, Mac, 
and make yourself as comfortable as possible." 

Steptoe was one of the guards to conduct Gen- 
eral McCall to General HilPs headquarters, and 
reports the scene from personal knowledge. 

In the charge on Malvern Hill the Confeder- 
ates passed a two story house, on the upper ver- 
randa of which stood a mother with three little 
children, looking confused and bewildered, whilst 
shells were bursting and cannon balls were flying 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 255 

thick in the air, from the Federal batteries in 
front and gunboats in the James. They were in 
the midst of awful carnage. The mother asked : 
^^How long will the battle last? Where must I 
go?" One soldier was detailed to conduct her 
to the rear as fast as possible. That was not an 
unusual scene; it occurred on many battlefields. 

Steptoe relates another incident which hap- 
pened to him when passing a farm house where 
a mother and two little children were out on the 
veranda greatly exposed. She said to the pass- 
ing Confederates, "Where must I go? How long 
will this dreadful battle last? The yankees told 
me to take the children to the cellar and stay 
there as long as the battle lasted, but I don't 
know what to do. Will you tell me?'' Steptoe 
and a comrade, by order, left the line and con- 
ducted the mother and children to the cellar. 

Soldiers are often hungry, and it was not an 
unusual thing to take the haversacks from 
the dead bodies of the enemy when in 
need of food. As Steptoe passed around the 
house, after placing the mother and children in 
the cellar, he saw a Federal soldier sitting on the 
ground leaning against the house, and an exam- 
ination found him dead. Being very hungry he 
took the dead soldier's haversack to obtain the 
food in it. It was well filled with choice food, but 
on opening it the food was saturated with blood. 
Then he double-quicked it to his advancing com- 
mand. 



256 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 



STEPTOE IN THE BATTLE OF CEDAE 
MOUNTAIN. 



After the seven days' battle around Richmond, 
from June 25 to July 1, 1862, and the retreat of 
MeClellan's besieging army, General Robert E. 
Lee organized "the campaign of northern Vir- 
ginia,'' as rapidly as possible, to follow up the 
transcendant victories over an army nearly three 
times greater in numbers than his own. The 
Confederates under their great generals believed 
themselves invincible in any battle where the dis- 
parity of forces against them were not over- 
whelmingly great. 

Leaving their fortified positions around Rich- 
mond with less than sixty thousand men, to at- 
tack two hundred thousand men under General 
McClellan, in their fortified positions along the 
line of the Chickahominy and Malvern Hill, was 
an undertaking as bold as any ever conceived and 
executed by Alexander the Great, Julius Csesar, 
or Bonaparte. Success, the crowning laurel of 
military achievement, inspired Confederate sol- 
diers and their leaders with enthusiasm unsur- 
passed in the annals of war. 

The Union soldiers and commanders, although 
marshalling overwhelming numbers, felt a corre- 
sponding depression of spirits. McClellan was 
deposed, and a boastful general with "headquar- 
ters in the saddle" superseded him. The Federal 
army massed in large numbers on the north bank 
of the Rapidan. On the thirteenth of August 
Stonewall Jackson's corps of veterans was set in 
motion with that celerity of movement and action 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 257 

which always distinguished and marked him for 
renown. Steptoe's brigade was in Jackson's col- 
umn, hurrying across the Rapidan and Rappa- 
hannock through the Bull Run mountains to di- 
vide and strike the enemy in the rear. His corps 
was followed by Longstreet's and Stewart's cav- 
alry. It does not come within the narrow scope 
of this volume to detail the movements and bat- 
tles of this campaign, further than it may throw 
light on the humble part an obscure private in 
the ranks, descended from an ancestry that gave 
mankind the noblest example of soldier and citi- 
zen the world has ever known — a character thn^ 
subordinated power and ambition to the interest 
and welfare of the world, a character that re- 
fused a crown that his people might become great 
and happy, "first in war and first in peace." 

The battle of Cedar Mountain, or Cedar Run, 
as it is interchangeably called, was the first great 
battle fought in the compaign of northern Vir- 
ginia, August 9, 1862. General Pope's headquar- 
ters were on the mountain. Steptoe's regiment 
and brigade was led by the dauntless General 
Field, in a hot, bloody and obstinate fight for five 
hours up the mountain, from which with the co-op- 
eration of other brigades they drove the Federals 
panic stricken in the confusion of an utter rout, 
and General Pope resumed "headquarters in the 
saddle," like the memorable General Hooker, who 
is credited with originating that travesty on gen- 
eralship which caused General Robert E. Lee 
to laugh with more hilarity than anything else 
during the war. General Hooker afterwards ex- 
hibited to General Lee and his victorious army 
the rapidity with which he could move his "head- 



258 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

quarters in the saddle/' where the power of ve- 
hement locomotion lay. 

As soon as the Forty-seventh Virginia cleared 
the heights at Cedar Mountain they broke 
for General Pope's headquarters, expecting 
to find therein something to stimulate the 
physical man and quench thirst, and their ex- 
pectations were not disappointed. Four gal- 
lans of fine "spirits that make just men perfect" 
was found, and handed from hand to hand and 
mouth to mouth up and down the line until cheer- 
fully consumed, before it reached the smiling, 
victorious face of that noble and gallant Ken- 
tuckian. General Field, who could afford to in- 
dulge the boys who wore the gray after such hard 
fighting. Honey, canned goods, rare and deli- 
cious delicacies, were found in the fleeing gen- 
eral's tent, which showed him to be a man of 
taste. The ever present sutler's goods were found 
without price or anyone to demand it. Five 
hours' fighting without intermission, under a 
scorching August sun, without water, was not an 
unusual hardship with the veterans. They wa- 
tered and rested here and enjoyed a Pentecostal 
banquet. Many of them barefooted with bleed- 
ing feet and ragged clothing and bareheaded. 
The poets of coming ages will tune the epic lyre 
in heroic rythm and song to the inspiration of 
countless millions, who will boast an ancestry 
of heroes inferior to none the world has ever 
known. The unprejudiced historian of distant 
ages will linger on the summit of their achieve- 
ments when recording their endurance, their sac- 
rifices, their unselfishness, their adherence and 
devotion to the covenants of their fathers; their 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 259 

love of liberty founded in just laws, and patriot- 
ism as lofty and pure as ever moved the children 
of men to heroic action. 

Step toe, although blessed with an iron consti- 
tution, had to succumb at last to a complication 
of diseases brought on by long continued hard- 
ship, through the burning suns of summer, rain 
and mud, the snows and sleets of winter, thin 
clothing, bedding, poor and often famishing diet, 
and for the first time, a few days after the battle 
above described, was sent to the hospital near 
Manassas, where the second Manassas battle was 
fought and won by the Confederates on the thir- 
tieth of August, 1862. He was but twenty years 
old and had seen more than two years of service. 
A hospital in the field with a moving army af- 
fords but little comfort to the sick soldier. The 
brigade surgeon gave him a furlough and ad- 
vised him to seek some hospitable family where 
he would receive more attention and better treat- 
ment. 

When scarcely able to hobble along with im- 
provised crutches, he started out on the weary 
Journey. Still sick and suffering, at the hour of 
noon he arrived at an humble log cabin on the 
road side on the thirtieth of August, whilst an 
hundred cannon were playing in the drama of 
war in the second Manassas battle a few miles 
distant. He stopped at the gate and hailed the 
lady in the door and asked for a drink of water. 
Whilst she was drawing it from the well, he 
leaned his crutches against the fence and stooped 
down to readjust the rags wrapped around his 
sore and bleeding feet and to remove the dust 
which had accumulated in the festerinsr sores. 



26o Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

When he reached his right hand to the fence for 
support in rising, that good mother in Israel 
stood there with a tin cup of water. He was 
emaciated and trembled from physical weakness. 
That wife and mother of soldiers then under fire 
at Manassas, steadied and rested the head of the 
boy soldier with one hand whilst she held the ves- 
sel of water with the other hand to his parched 
lips. A tear of sympathy crawled down her face. 
The boy thanked her as he prepared to move off. 

"No, no, my son," she said, "you must not 
leave my house until you recover. God, in his 
mysterious providence, has consigned you to my 
care. His will must be done and my duty per- 
formed. My husband and our two sons are in 
that battle where you hear the cannon roaring. 
They are with Stonew^all Jackson, and he always 
wins the battle." 

Steptoe answered : 

"I am one of Stonewall Jackson's men, too." 

"God bless you," she said, and helped him into 
the cabin, seated him comfortably, left the room 
and soon returned with a basin of warm water. 
Then kneeling at his feet, she unbound and 
washed them tenderly and carefully, procured 
clean binding with healing salve and rebound 
them, then helped him to a cot and told him to 
lie there and rest whilst she prepared food for 
him. She killed her last chicken, like the widow 
who threw her last mite in the treasury, and pre- 
pared a meal whilst the weary soldier enjoyed 
profound slumber. Sister to the sweet and im- 
mortal Mary, who washed the Savior's feet and 
wiped them with her tresses of hair. The guild 
and splendor of thrones never in the history of 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 261 

the world sheletered a nobler woman than that 
log cottage by the wayside. 

The thunder of cannon at Manassas invited 
dreams of charging columns, before he awoke to 
a repast as enjoyable as the nectar of the gods. 
The good mother of soldiers then opened the lids 
of the Holy Bible, read a few verses and kneeled 
in fervent prayer for the success of the south in 
the battle then raging, the recovery and welfare 
of the invalid soldier and the benediction of God 
on her husband and sons and their safe return 
"when the war comes to a glorious end.^' 

Steptoe felt so much improved that he resolved 
late in the evening to move on against the pro- 
test of the Good Samaritan. She then brought 
out a pair of new shoes and a pair of hose spun 
and knit with her own hands, and with a mother's 
care adjusted them to the soldier's feet. 

"Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
And simple faith than Norman blood." 

Rising up from that position of exalted humil- 
ity which Christ in his greatness glorified in 
washing the feet of his apostles after the last 
supper, she took one of the coats of her sons and 
put it on the soldier boy, whose great anxiety 
was to get to his father's mansion twenty-five 
miles distant, where his father, mother and sis- 
ters, who loved him with an idolatry of devotion 
equaled only by their patriotic love of the south. 
With heart full of gratitude he bade farewell to 
his noble benefactress and went his weary way, 
slowly and with difficultv along the public high- 
way. 



262 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

He had not proceeded far until overtaken by 
three young men in Federal uniform in precipi- 
tate flight from the battlefield of Manassas. They 
gave him a passing glance without speaking. 
When night cast its shadows in the wake of the 
declining sun he halted on the wayside in front 
of a two story mansion and invoked hospitality 
for the night. The lady of the mansion came out 
to the gate and inquired whether he was of south- 
ern or northern faith, and when assured that he 
was one of Stonewall Jackson's soldiers, she 
frankly told him that she ardently adhered to 
the north and that three Federal soldiers were 
then lodged in her house for the night, and that it 
would be dangerous for him to take shelter under 
her roof. 

"Good madam," he said, "if the presence of 
those three Federal soldiers is the only reason 
you have for declining the hospitality I seek, I 
assure you that it will not influence me from 
stopping. Those soldiers are within the Confed- 
erate lines. They have fled in the greatest haste 
from their own army to get beyond the reach of 
its perils, and they stand much more in need of 
my neutrality than I of theirs." 

"Well then," she said, "I have been honest and 
fair with you. Come in if you think there is no 
danger. I will treat you all alike." 

Steptoe had nothing to fear. He knew that 
they were the three young men who had passed 
him earlier in the evening, and when told that 
they were secreted upstairs his convictions were 
confirmed. Soldiers, when bent on war, never 
secret themselves in the absence of an enemy or 
pursuit. The lady preceded him and rushed up- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 263 

stairs to inform the young Federals of the pres- 
ence of a Confederate soldier, and advised them 
to have an understanding at once to obviate in- 
terruptions or suspicion from either side. When 
Steptoe passed in, leaning on his crutches, one 
of the young men descended the stairway, met 
him and opened negotiations which easily re- 
sulted in non-interference by either side. I'he 
good lady of the house was both pleased and 
amazed at the truce she did not fully compre- 
hend. 

The young men were loquacious and full of 
speech ; said their homes were in Pittsburgh ; that 
their families were wealthy, and that they had 
entered the army for the novelty and fun of it; 
that their inclination on that line was fully sat- 
isfied, and that they were going home to put sub- 
stitutes in their places. 

"Have you a pass or furlough, gentlemen?" in- 
quired Steptoe. 

"No, we took French leave, and were not sim- 
ple enough to ask for that we knew we could not 
get, especially when under fire, as we were when 
we headed the stampede." 

They said they would take the oath of allegiance 
to the Confederacy rather than go back into the 
Federal army. They had concluded that war was 
not a congenial calling, especially when attended 
with so much danger and privation. They were 
well bred, educated gents, and were very face- 
tious at their own expense. The hostess of strong 
Union sentiments treated all on the same basis 
of hospitality. 

Nastolgia, or homesickness, is a powerful dis- 
ease with many people. Many soldiers in both 



264 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

armies gave way to it, and subordinated patriot- 
ism and pride to its stronger influence over them. 
A want of courage was by no means the impelling 
cause of thousands of desertions from both 
armies. 

Steptoe left early next morning, and soon met 
with good fortune, in the person of a neighbor 
with a vehicle, who carried him home near Fred- 
ericksburgh, where he was soon restored to fight- 
ing trim and to his command. In the meantime 
his regiment had participated in the battles of 
the second Manassas and Antietam during his 
absence. 



STEPTOE IN THE BATTLE OF FRED- 
ERICKSBURGH. 



Fredericksburgh is situated on the south bank 
of the Rappahannock river, near the head of nav- 
igation, about sixty miles north of Richmond. 
The Confederate army consisted of Longstreet's 
and Jackson's corps and J. E. B. Stewart's cav- 
alry corps, all commanded by General R. E. Lee. 
The Confederates had one hundred pieces of artil- 
lery. The Federal army consisted of five infantry 
and one cavalry corps, and they brought into 
action more than one hundred and fifty cannon 
December 13, 1862. 

The Confederates occupied an irregular line of 
hills on the south side of the Rappahannock, two 
miles from the river, with a valley intervening. 
This line extended from a point one mile above 
Fredericksburgh to a distance of about nine miles 
below. The Federal army, before crossing the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 265 

Rappahannock to attack the Confederates, occu- 
pied a similar range of heights and hills on the 
north side of the Rappahannock, and the river 
was lined with Federal gunboats and transports, 
all commanded by General Burnside. The Spof- 
ford Hills overlooking Fredericksburgh were 
crowned with fortifications and batteries frown- 
ing on the doomed city. Longstreet's corps 
formed the left wing, and facing above and below 
Fredericksburgh, extending two miles above and 
far below the city, Jackson's corps formed the 
right wing. 

Burnside sent a flag of truce from his entrench- 
ments on Spofford Heights, demanding the sur- 
render of the city, which was refused, and all the 
non-combatant population evacuated the city, 
leaving it occupied by Confederate soldiers. On 
the morning of the eleventh of December the Fed- 
erals commenced crossing the Rappahannock on 
pontoons and transports, and were driven back 
with great slaughter from the upper pontoons 
and fell down the river to deei> embankments, 
where they were protected, and succeeded in cross- 
ing and forming in three dense columns, whilst 
their batteries of more than one hundred and 
fifty guns were playing with destructive fire on 
the Confederate troops in the city and vicinity. 
Here the slaughter is reported by General Lee 
to have been terrific. The Federals suffered much 
more than the Confederates, who fought behind 
houses and barricades. The city was held until 
four p. m., when the Confederates with their in- 
fantry, sheltered by the houses, poured destruc- 
tive volleys into the dense masses of the assault- 
ing columns, but it was impossible to hold the 



266 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

position after four p. m. Under the fire of one 
hundred and fifty cannon, and the assaulting col- 
umns of infantry, the Confederates retired. 
The brunt of this day's battle was sustained by 
Longstreet's heroic corps. 

The night of the eleventh and all day of the 
twelfth was occupied by the Federals in crossing 
in large numbers, under cover of a dense fog 
which concealed their movements. During this 
interval Federal batteries from Spofford Heights 
played on Longstreet's corps. The ground was 
covered with snow. The twelfth was consumed 
in artillery duels and heavy firing on the skirmish 
lines. The morning of the thirteenth was ob- 
scured by a heavy fog, which hung over both 
armies with occasional rifts in the clouds, which 
let in the sun and partially disclosed the com- 
batants to view. At 1 p. m. the fog gave way to a 
brilliant sun, disclosing to view dense masses of 
Hancock's corps in line of battle three columns 
deep, fronting Hamilton's Crossing near the right 
wing of Jackson's corps and extending miles up 
the river in the direction of Fredericksburgh. 

The Forty-seventh Virginia infantry, Washing- 
ton's regiment of Jackson's corps, occupied rifle 
pits on Hamilton Heights in front of a large park 
of Confederate artillery, and it is with what Step- 
toe saw on this part of the field that we are now 
chiefly concerned. The Rappahannock valley at 
this point is two miles wide, extending from the 
heights to the river. 

Here on Hamilton Heights on the morning of 
the thirteenth, Generafs Lee, A. P. Hill, 
D. H. Hill and J. E. B. Stewart, com- 
mander of two brigades of cavalry and a park 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 267 

of flying artillery, and Generals Longstreet and 
Jackson, rode up and dismounted on Hamilton 
Heights. Jackson, on a small sorrel horse, ar- 
rived last. When he rode up Steptoe was kicking 
a tree to jar the snow from his feet. Jackson 
said to him : 

"Soldier, please hold my horse.'' 

This group of generals stood apart in consulta- 
tion, a council of war, occasionally lifting their 
field glasses in the direction of the enemy, a few 
moments before one p. m. Then the sun burst in 
splendor through rifts of cloud and fog and dis- 
closed one of the most resplendant scenes ever 
witnessed on a field of war. Hancock's corps in 
three dense columns as far as the eye could reach, 
advancing to attack Jackson's corps, their bur- 
nished guns reflecting the silver sheen from the 
snow, mingled with the golden rays of a winter 
sun. The cannon's awful roar from two hundred 
and fifty guns announced the horrors of war. In- 
fantry had not yet fired. The five generals called 
the brigade commanders, spoke a few words, then 
mounted their horses and rode away to different 
parts of the field. Major Pelham, with one sec- 
tion of Stewart's flying artillery, occupied an ad- 
vanced position on Jackson's right wing, between 
the railroad and Bowling Green roads, lining 
up the valley, to the left of Hancock's advancing 
columns, all awaiting the signal gun to fire with 
intense eagerness, on every part of the field. 

At last, when the Federals had advanced far 
enough for Pelham to take the left flank of the 
enemy with a terrible enfilading fire. General Lee 
ordered the signal gun to fire and Pelham's sec- 
tion opened on the flank of that dense mass with 



268 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

grape and shrapnel with terrible effect. The 
enemy reeled and staggered and fell back a short 
distance. Then four field batteries of the enemy 
opened on Pelham, who sustained the unequal 
contest with the greatest obstinacy and bravery, 
whilst the enemy were reforming to advance 
again, which they did with dauntless courage, 
whilst the snow was drinking their bravest blood 
on that gory field. 

Steptoe was in the front riflepits with the in- 
fantry, awaiting the approach of the enemy, 
within easy range of their guns. When Pelham^s 
battery reserved its fire for a short time all the 
Federal artillery was directed against Jackson's 
lines, the Confederate infantry reserving their 
fire until the enemy came within close range. 
Then the Confederate artillery on the heights 
opened with terrific effect on the advancing en- 
emy, causing them to waver and retreat in con- 
fusion. Again they rallied and came in three 
compact lines, the Confederates again reserving 
their infantry fire until they came within easy 
range of their guns. 

At this stage of the confiict occurred one of 
those interesting episodes in the changing pan- 
orama of war which brings the private soldier to 
notice in the foreground, lends a coloring to the 
background, and brings out in bold relief great 
battle scenes too often omitted by the historian 
of great events, who contents himself with gen- 
eralities, without the spice which seasons litera- 
ture and charms the artistic eye. 

Two hundred and fifty pieces of artillery were 
playing to the music of the martial ear in the 
tragic drama of war, before the curtain rose to 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 269 

invite the rattle of musketry in deadlier and 
closer conflict. Steadily the Federals advanced 
in serried ranks, the infantry on Jackson's front 
line eagerly and breathlessly waiting the signal 
order to fire. Steptoe Washington was in the 
riflepits on this line, with his comrade, Lewis 
Payne, to his right, who was renowned as one 
of the finest shots in the southern army, the en- 
emy now in range of his gun. To the front of the 
advancing line rode an officer on a gray horse, 
with new uniform and red sash, waving his sword, 
turning in his saddle from right to left, cheering 
the brave soldiers he was leading over that field 
of carnage. 

Chivalrous officer, undaunted soldier, a con- 
spicuous mark for the expert sharpshooter, re- 
splendant scene of tragic glory. Payne's eager 
desire to pick off the officer impelled his impetu- 
osity to fire before the order was given. He drew 
a bead on him and was in the act of firing, when 
his captain, who was standing in his rear, sprung 
to him with drawn pistol, seized his gun and said : 
"If you fire before the order is given I will 
shoot you down." 

Then releasing the gun, Payne said : 
"All right, captain, I will keep my bead on him 
and will pull the first trigger when you do give 
the order." 

In a few minutes Captain Brooks said : 
"Steady! take deliberate aim! fire!" and in 
the moment's interval between the words "aim" 
and "fire," Payne fired and the brave officer fell 
from his horse. The horse ran back through the 
lines and created some confusion in the Federal 
ranks, but they steadily advanced on Hamilton 



270 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Heights, and at the second infantry fire recoiled 
and fell back ; but again rallied in overwhelming 
numbers, deflected to the left and charged the 
Confederate lines farther to the right of Ham- 
ilton's Crossing and forced their way through 
the lines of Generals Lane and Archer, and at- 
tacked the reserve division of D. H. Hill, where 
Brigadier Generals Thomas R. R. Cobb, of Geor- 
gia, and Maxey Gregg, of South Carolina, were 
killed. 

Steptoe's and Payne's regiment, the Forty-sev- 
enth Virginia, and other troops were sent to re- 
inforce our broken lines, where one of the most 
deadly conflicts of the civil war took place. The 
Confederates in reserve, although taken by sur- 
prise and panic stricken, were victorious, and 
drove the enemy in confusion from the field. 

The dead, wounded and dying on a bloody 
field of snow, extending for miles over the valley 
of the Rappahannock and the hills overlooking 
it, presented a scene inviting profound contem- 
plation of the vanity of human desires and the 
stubborn pertinacity of man's inherent frailties. 
It is traditional with the old veterans of the line 
present on that ever memorable field, that Stone- 
wall Jackson urged General Lee for permission 
to pursue and assail the retreating column and 
capture or drive them into the Rappahannock, 
an achievement they are convinced would have 
crowned the leadership of that great general, and 
the old veterans, so full of confidence in and love 
for that genius for rapid movement in war. But 
it is a species of aspiring credulity and temerity 
for a subaltern not skilled in the higher science 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 271 

of war to question the martial skill of General 
Lee. 

But the old veteran of many battles can not 
resist the conclusion that a great opportunity 
was lost, and the events of the fourteenth and 
fifteenth, the two succeeding days, encourages 
the presumption of the old veterans of the line 
that General Lee was deceived in his estimate of 
the enemy's condition and intentions. In fact 
General Lee in his lucid report of the battle of 
Fredericksburgh says he sent instructions along 
his entire line to strengthen it at every point. 
^' These preparations were made to meet the 
grand attack of the enemy on Monday morning'' 
"(the succeeding day) ; and General Lee, in this 
report, proceeds : "During the night the enemy re- 
crossed the river. His retreat was not discovered 
until he had crossed the river and cut the bridges 
at this end." Jackson's plan was to strip his 
men to their white shirts and approach Han- 
cock's corps after dark over the snow covered val- 
ley so as to get as near as possible to the enemy 
before being discovered. Then to "sweep the field 
with the bayonet." In another chapter we will 
see what General Hancock said would have been 
the result if that move had been made. At that 
very moment the other corps of the Federal army 
were retreating across the Rappahannock on 
transports and over pontoons, and General Han- 
cock was covering that retreat. 

Steptoe relates a gruesome story of his experi- 
ence on that battlefield eight months after Han- 
cock's corps presented such a splendid pageantry 
in the valley of the Rappahannock. 



272 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

There was a scarcity of good water in camp 
and he was very thirsty for a fresh cool drink. 
There was a deep ravine in the valley, bordered 
with trees and a network of vines, through which 
a small stream flowed, to which he went alone 
one warm afternoon in search of water. Federal 
pickets and sharpshooters had occupied that shel- 
tered place during the battle above described. 
He advanced to what he conceived to be the most 
eligible spot for a cool pool of water, overhung 
with trees netted with wild grape vines. Here he 
found the water, and ripe wild grapes in abun- 
dance, which appeared to the thirsty soldier an 
eldorado. 

Throwing his head backward and eyes upward 
to a thick cluster of vines, a gruesome, horrifying 
sight met his shuddering gaze. The fleshless 
skeleton of a Federal sharpshooter in uniform sat 
astride a large grape vine ten feet above the 
ground, leaning forward supported by another 
vine, with cap on fleshless skull, uniform on 
bones of the body and shoes hanging to the bones 
of the feet, with gun resting on the vines, and 
shining white teeth mocking fate and mortality. 

An involuntary shudder convulsed the stout 
soldier's frame — banished all desire for water 
from that shaded pool, or desire for the fruit 
which seemed to be guarding that remnant of 
mortality from further invasion of the tenants of 
earth. Steptoe says he has often been where the 
missiles of death were flying around him, has 
charged on batteries of cannon and rushed with 
bayonet on the enemy, but never in his long ex- 
perience as a soldier on the bloodiest battlefields 
of Virginia did he feel such a thrill of horror. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 273 

He retraced his steps, resolved never to drink 
water flowing through that battlefield, nor eat 
fruit nourished by its blood. 



STEPTOE IN THE DISASTROUS BATTLE 
OF GETTYSBURGH. 



The month of July, 1863, compassed on era of 
great disaster to Confederate arms. General 
Pemberton was compelled to surrender Vicks- 
burgh with thirty thousand troops on the fourth 
of July. Port Hudson surrendered five days 
later with three thousand prisoners. General 
Lee, from June 1st to July 4th, in his Gettys- 
burgh campaign, lost thirty-five thousand men, 
that great battle and the prestige of his army. 
In that short space of time the Confederates lost 
in the east and west about eighty thousand men. 

A pall of gloom and darkness settled over the 
Confederacy, which shook the stoutest and most 
sanguine minds. Relentless fate sealed the cause 
of the Confederacy. New levies could not fill the 
places of the lost, because none were to be had. 
The conscript law had no material to operate on. 
Deserters and stragglers constituted the only 
material to be gathered together, and that was 
a poor resource on which to found a nation's re- 
liance. Every seaport effectually blockaded; in- 
tercourse with the outside world cut off; that 
great artery of commerce, the Mississippi river, 
with all of its tributaries, open without serious 
obstruction to the enemy, and closed against in- 
ter-state commerce of the south. 



274 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

The great productive areas of the south in 
great measure a ^'howling wilderness," with labor 
gone and no resource to supply its place, with 
near two million men in arms crowding on the 
south from circumference to center, presented a 
picture of forlorn hope and desolation which 
ought to have been met with the ken of states- 
manship far greater than that to be overwhelmed 
in "the last ditch.'' 

The south, in the sear leaf of exhaustion in 
men and every other resource indispensably 
necessary to wage such a tremendous conflict 
against such tremendous odds and difficulties, 
piled like Peleon upon Ossa, presented more than 
enough evidence to convince the average mind 
that the road to Appomattox was short, no mat- 
ter how many lives might be sacrificed in its ob- 
struction. 

"Coming events cast their shadows before," 
as plainly as the handwriting on the wall which 
filled the heart of Belshazzar with despair until 
his knees smote each other. But the passions of 
the hour rode the whirlwind and dethroned the 
better judgment of men until appalling desola- 
tion spread her baneful wings over the fairest 
and loveliest land God has given to the children 
of men. The writer is a loyal son of the south, 
and every fibre of his nature, every pulsation of 
his heart, beats in sympathy with her people, and 
he proclaimed from a hundred rostrums during 
the campaign preceding President Lincoln's first 
election, that the south could not succeed in the 
approaching war, which then appeared inevit- 
able. ^ 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 275 

I told the press and its reporters that they 
were committing a crime in proclaiming that one 
southern man in the field would be the equiva- 
lent of ten northern men, I told the people from 
every rostrum that the great northwest would 
never lay down their arms as long as the Father 
of Waters rolled on to the sea ; that the pioneers 
who immigrated to the wilderness with rifle in 
one hand and the axe in the other had filled the 
great west with descendants who were capable 
and numerous enough to be moulded into one of 
the best equipped armies the world ever saw. 
That a large number of that hardy race of pio- 
neers were southern men, whose descendants 
were as brave and loyal to their convictions as 
their kindred of the south. 

At the same time I proclaimed that I would 
never take up arms against my people, and that 
when the hour of trial and peril came I would 
stand like Macgregor on my native heath and 
share the weal or woe of my people. This did not 
please the revolutionary sentiment of the peo- 
ple, but they tolerated it from a southern man. 

After the death of Stonewall Jackson, Step- 
toe's regiment (Forty-seventh Virginia infantry) 
was incorporated in the second brigade, com- 
manded by Colonel J. M. Brockenbrough, of 
Major General Heth's division of Lieutenant 
General A. P. HilPs corps. Whilst his corps was 
marching on the south side of the Rappahannock 
river, nearly parallel with Hancock's Federal 
corps, Steptoe with two comrades was detailed as 
scouts to cross the Rappahannock and follow up 
the movement of Hancock's corps. This gave 
time for their division to get far in their advance, 



276 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

and they did not overtake it until the morning 
of the second day's fight at Gettysburgh, but in 
time for that awful slaughter in the wheatfield 
on the right of the Confederate line. Here Step- 
toe says, on that awful field of slaughter: 

"I saw enough suffering to last me a thousand 
years; not my own physical suffering, for I es- 
caped unhurt, but that of those who fell on that 
field of blood — friend and foe, infantry, artillery 
and cavalry horses piled thick in every direc- 
tion." 

The retreat of a badly defeated army, disorgan- 
ized, cowed and demoralized, often presents the 
gravest of difficulties, calling for the highest de- 
gree of generalship, especially when pursued by 
a victorious army, and perhaps General Lee dis- 
played as much martial talent in his retreat from 
Gettysburgh as in the battle. In fact, the impar- 
tial critic, however great his admiration and 
love of the beautiful life and character of that 
great man in all the walks of life, can scarcely 
resist the conclusion that the invasion of Penn- 
sylvania was a mistake. In the opinion of Gen- 
eral John B. Gordon, the Confederates would 
have won that battle if General Longstreet had 
not been several hours late in arriving with his 
corps, which lost the possession of Cemetery Hill, 
the key to the field. 

Bonaparte, the greatest general of modern 
times, made mistakes — mistakes which ulti- 
mately cost him his empire. In fact, the fewest 
number of great generals, ancient or modern, 
were exempt from mistakes. Alexander the 
Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal and the Duke of 
Marlboro are prominent exceptions. But, all 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 277 

things considered, perhaps no general, ancient or 
modern, could have exceeded the generalship of 
General Lee. Those near to Bonaparte inform 
us that he was jealous of the fame of Csesar and 
Alexander, and in his estimate of the achieve- 
ments of the latter, he said : 

"What if he had lost Arbela, with nothing to 
protect his line of retreat over nine hundred 
leagues?'^ 

The loss of that battle would have rendered 
Alexander as vulnerable to criticism as that in- 
curred by himself in the disastrous invasion of 
Eussia. No one after the most critical investi- 
gation of Alexander's plan of battle and disposi- 
tion of men, can discover a fault sufficient on 
which to base enlightened criticism. Of the great 
Eoman, Bonaparte left no criticism, no parallel 
to himself. 

It has been common with southern writers, 
still lingering in the shade of that mighty revo- 
lution, to accord to General Lee a niche in the 
pantheon of martial glory above all other gen- 
erals, ancient or modern. That is saying too 
much. If so, it is a lesson which ought not to 
be taught and handed down to posterity. Verity 
of fact is one of the noblest lessons which can be 
taught mankind. 

Steptoe's wornout brigade on the retreat was 
made river guard at Hagerstown, Maryland, and 
nearly all went to sleep on their post. Wornout 
humanity, thus by hundreds, incurred the penal- 
ties of death ; but as no disaster was incurred, the 
officers of the day, equally worn and fatigued, 
did not report any of them. 



278 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

Next day they crossed the Potomac at Falling 
Water by wading the stream, and went into camp 
in the marshes bordering the river. They (the 
rear guard) slept on their arms, in a heavy rain, 
mud and water, the ground being cut up by the 
march and tramp of armies. Next morning they 
found their guns filled with mud and water, their 
clothing wet, stomachs empty and no commissary 
at hand. Wornout soldiers, hungry, many rag- 
ged, barefooted, scattered, and the majority 
asleep after sunrise, and an alert enemy after 
them. 

General Heth, the division commander, rode 
up to Steptoe, who had been on the alert, and 
had descried the Federal flag flying at the head 
of General Kilpatrick's division of cavalry, and 
he said to the general : 

"Don't you see the Federals advancins: on us? 
Why don't you rally and put your men in line 
of battle?" 

The general replied: 

"You are mistaken; they are our men." 

Steptoe said in reply: 

"Great God, general, is it possible that you 
are so deceived. We will all be captured if you 
don't instantly realize our situation." 

By this time the Federal cavalry had advanced 
into an open field in plain view — half the Con- 
federates asleep with their guns full of water 
and choked with mud. As soon as all the Fed- 
erals emerged from the woods into the open field 
and lined up they came at full gallop on a charge. 

There was nothing possible of a practicable 
nature to do but to fight or retreat. To fight 
under the conditions would not have been re- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 279 

spectable nonsense. At the order of retreat the 
command scattered like a covey of quail. Step- 
toe and a beardless boy who had straggled from 
another regiment stood side by side behind the 
farm fence which enclosed the field over which 
the Federals were charging, and did not scamper 
off like a flock of sheep in the pell mell retreat. 

Two Federals, three hundred yards in advance 
of their charging column, came rushing at full 
speed toward the spot where Steptoe and the boy 
soldier stood, and to their surprise the horse of 
one of the advanced riders leaped the fence. Both 
raised their guns to fire on the brave soldier who 
had cleared the fence. Steptoe's gun failed of 
fire, the boy's responded and the rider fell dead 
from his horse The boy sprang to him, seized 
his arms and horse, took ten dollars from his 
pocket and escaped. 

Steptoe and six comardes ran to the woods, 
but were soon captured with five hundred other 
Confederates. One of the poor Confederates 
captured in the squad with Steptoe was a craven 
dastardly creature — a travesty on that cour- 
ageous nature which animates a true soldier. He 
said to his captor : 

^^I was a Union man. I was conscripted and 
forced into the Confederate army against my 
will and principles." 

Steptoe's indignation boiled over and partially 
spent itself in language of denunciation more 
forceful than elegant. The craven was lying. 
Steptoe knew the date of the Confederate con- 
script act, which came into operation six to eight 
months after the craven creature was marching 
with his regiment as a volunteer, and he said : 



28o Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"You treacherous, cowardly disgrace to a noble 
cause and a noble country, you lie. Why don't 
you stand to your colors like a man? If you ever 
speak to me again I will slap your jaws." 

The gentleman officer who held them and oth- 
ers as prisoners, slapped Steptoe on the shoulder, 
and said: 

"Johnnie Keb, I admire a man who stands to 
his colors under all conditions; I will extend to 
you every courtesy and indulgence consistent 
with the discharge of a soldier's duty. Is there 
any immediate favor I can extend you?" 

This officer was a native of Russia. 

"Yes," said Steptoe, "I am famished for some- 
thing to eat. You Federals have pressed us so 
hard that we have not found food, nor time to 
eat it, if we had found it." 

The generous captor, whose admiration had 
thus been challeneged, supplied him and all of 
his comrades bountifully with the best their 
commissary afPorded. Whilst the feast was pre- 
paring, he invited Steptoe to step aside with him, 
and pulled out a pocket flask of the best brandy. 
Handing it to the weary, thirsty Confederate, 
he said : 

"Let us drink to the soldier who honors his 
colors whether he fights under northern star or 
southern sun." 

And Steptoe drank a bumper to the toast, and 
he says : 

"It thrilled every nerve in my body, and was 
better than the nectar of the fabled gods ; it called 
to life my half suspended nature. The generous 
whole souled Russian responded, and we became 
warm friends." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 281 

Next morning the same officer in charge went 
to Steptoe with that bland and courteous salu- 
tation which distinguishes a well bred gentle- 
man, gave him a small flask of much relished nec- 
tar, and asked if any further favor could be ex- 
tended. 

"Yes, there is one, but I feel a delicacy in men- 
tioning it. I am not in a condition to recipro- 
cate, and dislike very much to impose on your 
kindness. In addition to that, I fear the rigid 
requirements of war restrains you from grant- 
ing it; hence I will not impose any embarrass- 
ment by mentioning it,'' said Steptoe. 

"Ah, my friend," said the officer, you 
must not anticipate and usurp functions which 
belong in this instance exclusively to me. You 
must mention your desires, and I will judge 
whether the grant lies within my jurisdiction. 
You must not let any delicacy of sentiment or 
refinement impose any bar to imparting to me 
your desires." 

"Allow me to thank you," said Steptoe, "for 
the assurance and delicacy of expression by 
which you have removed the restraint. I have 
a very dear sister, married to a gentleman living 
in Maryland, of very pronounced Union senti- 
ment, and have not heard from her for a great 
while, nor has she heard from me. Neither of us 
today know whether the other is living or dead; 
and if living, what misfortunes the war has im- 
posed. I have other friends, of happier days than 
these, living within the Union lines. 

"There is a tenderness of feeling and sentiment, 
a pathos of soul which is ever loyal to the 
days of long ago — the hallowed associations of 



282 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

youth which claims the homage of the heart. 
The rude blasts and desolations of war can never 
obliterate the noblest impulses of generous na- 
tures. Such emotions are above and beyond the 
reach and ravages of war. My impulse is to 
write to them. It is strong. As your prisoner I 
have the leisure, but, as I understand it, the re- 
lentless rules of war imposes a restraint on cor- 
respondence with the enemy — one not always ob- 
served, I know. Hence the delicacy I felt in ask- 
ing you for the material and the privilege of 
availing myself of the postal facilities of a people 
with whom my people are at war. I know that, 
as an enemy, I have no right to such privileges 
and facilities. Not an enemy in the sense of war 
to individuals, but an enemy to the great objects 
their government is seeking to impose on my 
government, and enforce by arms.'' 

There are a thousand avenues to the human 
heart. It may be set in motion by a thousand 
delicate touches, with infinite variety and varia- 
tion; and in nothing in all the wonderful mech- 
anism of the universe is the wisdom of the creator 
more forcibly displayed than in the mind of man. 
It is a revelation to man of the existence of his 
immortal soul, destined to take its astral flight 
from the shores of the dark river in onward, up- 
ward, eternal progression. 

That noble Russian had expatriated himself 
from the Zar's domains because of the iron hand 
of despotism laid on his native land, and his 
liberal education opened up expansive avenues 
to the higher types of manhood. Perhaps a 
knowledge of the heroic strain of blood through 
Washington's heart touched the emotional sym- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 283 

pathies of the generous officer. The name of the 
prisoner led to inquiry and discovery of the col- 
lateral relationship, and nobility of kindred sen- 
timents which could not be hidden behind thread- 
bare garments nor covered with bleeding and 
shoeless feet. 

"Come with me/' said the officer, "I will ac- 
cord you every facility to correspond with your 
sister and friends, and I will make it my busi- 
ness to see that postal facilities are not denied 
or withheld. I will mail your letters and see 
that they reach their destination." 

When the letters were finished Step toe handed 
them to the officer for inspection, before sealing 
and mailing. But he refused to violate the amen- 
ities of a refined nature by reading them, and 
sealed them up and deposited them in person in 
the mail, saying: 

"I know where to place confidence. In some 
things I fix m.y own standards, and this is one 
of them." 

The prisoners were sent to the old capitol 
prison at Washington, where they remained until 
the last of December, 1863, when they were sent 
to Old City Point, on the James river, and ex- 
changed. 



STEPTOE IN THE BATTLE OF THE WIL- 
DERNESS OR CHANCELLORSVILLE. 



The campaign from the Rapidan to the James 
river of one month and eight days. May 4 to June 
12, 1863, was one of the most brilliant in the 
annals of war. 



284 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

The Confederates were handled by able gen- 
erals in whom the rank and file had supreme con- 
fidence, an element of the greatest importance in 
all the great affairs of men. General Field, that 
heroic Kentuckian, commanded a division em- 
bracing his old brigade, which included the For- 
ty-seventh Virginia, of Stonewall Jackson's 
corps. 

On the fifth of May, at daylight, Jackson's 
corps was moving on a forced march with that 
celerity which ever characterized that wonder- 
ful man when great achievement was to reward 
great generalship and unflinching heroism. In 
order to strike the Federal army in the rear he 
made a long and rapid detour of twenty-five 
miles by three o'clock in the afternoon, and 
opened the great battle of the Wilderness in Gen- 
eral Hookin's astonished and panic stricken rear. 
Bonaparte, in the best era of the consulate and 
empire, never exhibited more consummate gen- 
eralship. 

At three in the afternoon General Field, with 
his division in the vanguard, struck the Federals 
in rear and flank like a thunderbolt in a clear 
sky, followed by other divisions of Jackson's 
corps at a point and time when the Federals were 
not anticipating nor prepared for such a move. 
Jackson's calculations were executed with math- 
ematical precision. The Federals were flushed 
like a covey of quail, panic stricken, and fled in 
precipitation, disorder and confusion. 

Steptoe was on the front line where a cataract 
of flre and ball swept like a cyclone through the 
fleeing mass. The stampeded Federals fled in 
Bull Run confusion to the cover of the Wilder- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 285 

ness, leaving their camp and equipage, one 
thousand dressed and one thousand oxen on foot. 
In that hot pursuit and rapid flight, Steptoe 
came on a poor suffering wounded Federal sol- 
dier. His tongue had been terribly lacerated 
with a gunshot wound. It was hanging by shreds 
out of his mouth, and he was unable to speak, 
but raised his hand to his mouth, indicating that 
he wanted water. Sympathy for distress never 
deserts a truly brave soldier. 

Steptoe stopped, filled the wounded man's can- 
teen with water, raised him up and aided him to 
drink. Then he took the poor man's haversack, 
opened it and laid it before him. That was all 
the assistance he could render under the circum- 
stances. Then he rushed on a double quick to 
his place in the line. 

That night was one of Egyptian darkness in 
the dense Wilderness. The Confederates biv- 
ouaced and slept in line of battle on their arms, 
amidst a ceaseless rain of shell and ball all night 
without replying, which is always a painful posi- 
tion for soldiers. The brilliant achievement of 
that day brought its fatal night. When Jack- 
son's star was in the zenith of a radiant and glo- 
rious splendor, which coming ages will crown 
with immortality, the angel of death touched his 
spotless robe. He had given very strict orders to 
his officers and men guarding the picket line. 
Some time after dark, with a few of his staff he 
rode beyond that line to reconnoitre in person 
the Federal position as far as possible. 

After this he returned to his own line, at a dif- 
ferent point from that at which he had passed 
out, without notice to the men on picket duty of 



286 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

the point at which he would re-enter the lines. 
Perhaps he did not know when he passed out at 
what point he would return. That omission or 
oversight caused his death. His great anxiety 
and multiplicity of duties demanding his atten- 
tion, under the momentous circumstances which 
crowded his supervision, no doubt caused this 
fatal oversight. When he was returning through 
that Egyptian darkness, his pickets, believing the 
enemy was approaching, fired the fatal shot 
which wounded and ended in his death ten days 
later, when he "passed over the river to the shade 
of the trees beyond." 

This awful tragedy was soon whispered along 
the line. No general was ever loved and idol- 
ized by his soldiers more than General Jackson. 
He was a patriot, general, hero and Christian of 
the highest type. No pen, no tongue, will ever 
succeed in describing and painting the distress 
felt by his soldiers. 

Knowing full well the calamity which might 
follow his death in the awful battle which was 
to be fought by the contending hosts the next 
day, the greatest effort to conceal the mortal 
wound from all the men of his corps was made. 
Courier after courier was dispatched along the 
lines, who announced to all that their great gen- 
eral's wound was but slight and that in a few 
days he would again be leading his invincible 
columns. But that laudable strategy did not al- 
lay their sorrow, nor prevent to a great extent 
the demoralization which followed. It is beyond 
the power of human nature and endurance to 
labor under such heavy affliction and at the same 
time give to patriotism and heroic impulse their 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 287 

maximum strength in battle. But another strat- 
egy we will presently see did succeed. 

General Lee immediately appointed his great 
cavalry leader, General J. E. B. Stewart, to take 
command of General Jackson's corps. But be- 
fore we come to the rising sun of the next day, 
with its appalling horrors and tragic glories, let 
us briefly notice some episodes on the dark line in 
the Wilderness. Steptoe relates some painful as 
well as ludicrous scenes that night. The rank 
and file, for better security, were ordered to lie 
down that night. The Federal batteries were 
inflicting some execution in a terrific cannonade. 

Steptoe's lieutenant was inconsiderately mak- 
ing light of the incumbent position of the line, 
and took it upon himself to stand up in disobedi- 
ence of orders and to guy others for lying down, 
and particularly Steptoe. In a moment a can- 
non ball struck off the lieutenant's head and 
spattered the blood and brains over Steptoe, 
when if he had been lying down in obedience to 
orders the fatal ball would have passed over 
without harm. 

Steptoe says Colonel Robert Mayo, of the For- 
ty-seventh, was as brave a man as ever led in bat- 
tle, but was mooneyed and could not see 
at night, nor navigate without stumbling over 
obstacles like a blind horse. He was feeling 
about and bumping up against trees whilst the 
branches of the trees were being cut off by shell 
and ball from the enemy's guns. Not knowing 
where he was or where to go, he called out to 
Steptoe to come to him and provide him with a 
comfortable situation. Some twenty yards to the 
rear of the line a large tree had been blown up by 



288 Beminiscences of the Civil War, 

the roots years before, leaving a deep depression 
in the ground, to which Steptoe led his colonel, 
and deposited him at the bottom of the depres- 
sion, and resumed his place in the line. Next 
morning, as soon as the colonel could see, he went 
to Steptoe laughing heartily and said : 

"Steptoe, I think five hundred men wanted 
that hole last night where you put me for safe 
keeping, and I kept as quiet as a church mouse, 
although they squeezed me nearly to death. I 
was ashamed to tell them they were nearly mash- 
ing the life out of their colonel. Keep this joke 
to yourself; it is too good to be handed around 
before I am dead or the war is over." 

The morning of the sixth found brave hearts 
and iron nerves, the veterans of many a glorious 
field in the deepest distress, sorrowful distress 
and doubt as to the fate of their corps com- 
mander. Every man suspected that strategy 
had been employed to influence their conviction 
that their general had not suffered any great 
injury. They were walking around and talking 
to each other in groups, with countenances which 
betrayed their distress. They were also suffer- 
ing from hunger, not having eaten anything for 
twenty-four hours.. 

To restore the veterans of that celebrated corps 
to its maximum trim required much good judg- 
ment and finesse, which General Lee wisely en- 
trusted to General J. E. B. Stewart. The first 
move on that line was an order from General 
Stewart for the corps to fall back behind its 
wagon train, where they would find a sumptuous 
morning meal prepared for them. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 289 

After tlie meal was disposed of, the corps 
was drawn up in line, when General Stewart 
appeared before them as their commander. The 
general was mounted on a superb charger, with 
his hat off, at the head of the line. He said : 

^^Brother soldiers, you have been told that 
your beloved general is either dangerously 
wounded or dead, and I read in your sorrowful 
faces the deep sorrow and gloom with which that 
report oppresses you all, but let me convey to 
you the glad tidings that he is not seriously 
wounded. He sends to you the assurance and glad 
tidings that he will be able in a few days to lead 
and head your victorious columns again, and he 
requests all to follow me today as your leader in 
the heroic struggle which faces you in this su- 
preme hour. Will you indorse and ratify the 
choice of your general ? I will not ask you to go, 
but only follow me where I will lead you." 

This speech aroused and animated them and 
their united voices shook the Wilderness in 
cheers and affirmative answers, from one end of 
the long line to the other, as that great and mag- 
netic leader rode from one end to the other that 
all might hear him. Well did he stand and act 
in Stonewall Jackson's place that immortal day, 
which will go down the corridors of all the com- 
ing ages until man's upward trend on earth shall 
be no more. 

They were then under an enfilading fire from 
the enemy's batteries on an eminence about one 
mile distant. To charge and assault that cluster 
of batteries and the army supporting them was 
the immediate work before them. Fife and drum 
and inspiring martial music, the hoisting of bat- 



290 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

tie flags, and the command ^^Forward march!'' 
with the general in front all the way and all day, 
was the awful prelude. 

An open field intervened a little more than 
half way to the park of artillery on the crest of 
the ridge. Three hundred yards in front of the 
enemy's batteries was a depression in the ground, 
which, when reached, would protect the Confed- 
erates from the destructive fire of cannon and 
small arms, whilst they remained in the depres- 
sion. It was a long double quick charge to reach 
this depression, and when it was reached Gen- 
eral Stewart halted his men a few moments until 
they recovered from their exhaustion. 

Then the order was given to fix bayonets and 
charge in double quick on the batteries, which 
they took and retained after an awful slaughter. 
The enemy retreated in confusion and disorder, 
whilst they were being mowed down with shell, 
canister and grape from the captured batteries. 
The ground over which the Confederates charged, 
through a hail storm of grape, canister and small 
arms, was covered with dead, wounded and dying 
soldiers. The wild rebel yell seemed to leap in 
demoniac chorus from the points of the bayonets 
and rise above the roar of cannon and rattle of 
musketry. Once reached, through the storm of 
that demoniac fury, the Confederate bayonets 
were plunged into all who did not surrender or 
flee. The Federals rallied again and again, and 
maintained the conflict with tenacity for six to 
seven hours, whilst other portions of both armies 
were equally engaged. 

The Confederates of Jackson's corps slept on 
their arms that night, expecting the battle to be 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 291 

renewed next morning, but the Federals retreated 
across the Rappahannock that night. The Fed- 
eral army, after being defeated in the battle of 
the Wilderness, massed their army at Spottsyl- 
vania Courthouse, where the armies fought on 
the seventh and eighth. 



STEPTOE IN LINE OF BATTLE AT 
APPOMATTOX. 



When the final drama was closed at Appomat- 
tox, he was in that skeleton which represented 
the remains of the once glorious army whose 
deeds of heroism had sent an imperishable halo 
of glory around the world and baptized their his- 
tory in the shrine of immortality. 

Whilst the negotiations between Generals Lee 
and Grant were in progress he was in line of bat- 
tle three miles distant awaiting orders. Most of 
them were barefooted, bareheaded, hungry and 
with but ragged remnants of clothing. When 
the order to stack arms was given, and General 
Lee's farewell address was read, a flood of tears 
burst from those veterans. Historians, both 
north and south, have dwelt on the generosity of 
General Grant in refusing to accept the sword 
of General Lee. That is a myth which ought 
not to find its way into permanent history. 

It was stipulated in the articles of surrender 
that all the officers of the army surrendering 
should retain their side arms and personal prop- 
erty, and General Grant has corrected the error. 
But General Grant should forever be remem^ 
bered with gratitude for the order he immedi- 



292 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

ately issued to his army enjoining his soldiers 
not to, under any circumstances, wound the feel- 
ings of the Confederate soldiers. Washington 
says the order was strictly obeyed. All the old 
veterans yet living who were there remember the 
kindness shown by the Federal soldiers in refus* 
ing like gentlemen from wounding those high 
spirited, yet crushed men. 

William T. Washington, son of George Steptoe 
Washington, was the father of Ferdinand Step- 
toe Washington, the soldier. He lived in a fine 
mansion on the north side of the Rappahannock 
river, two and one-half miles from Fredericks- 
burgh, in Stafford county, Virginia, and General 
Hancock, at different times, made his headquar- 
ters in the house with the family for more than 
one year. Together with a number of his staff, 
he fitted up a telegraph ofnce in one of the rooms, 
and erected a kitchen where his cooks prepared 
his meals. He was a polished, courteous gentle- 
man, and was punctilious in observing all the 
amenities of social life. He often joined Step- 
toe's father and sisters in social conversation. 
Amongst other matters lie spoke freely of Stone- 
wall Jackson's desire to attack his corps on the 
night of the thirteenth of December, 1862, when 
he was guarding the retreat of the Federal army 
across the Rappahannock after the severe battle 
of that day, and he said that it was a perilous 
movement for his army, and that if he had been 
vigorously attacked his loss would have been un- 
avoidably great. 

How Jackson's desire and Lee's refusal to per- 
mit the attack got abroad is not known, but it 
was the subject of much comment and discus- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 293 

sion at the time in the Confederate army. The 
writer gives it as Steptoe relates it. As to Gen- 
eral Hancock's statement, Steptoe gets that from 
his father and sisters. The writer accords Step- 
toe much confidence, because of his scrupulous 
desire to keep strictly within the limits of truth. 

General Hancock's corps was drawn up in line 
of battle in dense columns on the morning of the 
fourteenth, the day on which General Lee says in 
his report he expected the decisive battle to take 
place, but was mistaken. A dense fog overhung 
the armies on the fourteenth until near noon. 
When it cleared away, the Confederate army was 
awaiting the attack. 

Two hundred thousand Federal soldiers were 
quartered in Stafford county around Fredericks- 
burgh and the non-combatants at that time relied 
chiefly on the Federal army for supplies. Gen- 
eral Hancock was always very considerate of the 
necessities of the people, and particularly so with 
the family where he was quartered. Whilst the 
family never solicited aid, he was conscious of 
the severe stringency which would cramp them, 
and never suffered it to distress them; he was 
conscious of their pride and would for trifling 
favors, unsolicited, keep the family larder well 
supplied. 

When his corps marched to the defense of 
Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, he left with the 
family for their own consumption six barrels 
of flour, two of sugar, four of hams, two sacks of 
coffee, a fine cooking stove, and all culinary ves- 
sels, canned goods and many other articles of 
necessity. 



294 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Some master genius for wood carving in the 
Federal army around Richmond, cut a piece of 
dogwood timber on the battlefield of Chickahom- 
iny, and carved it into the finest pipe the writer 
ever saw. It has the Pennsylvania coat of arms 
elaborately cut on it in the perfection of art. 
General Hancock was a native of Pennsylvania, 
and the genius who carved the pipe in such elab- 
orate detail of finish and perfection presented it 
to General Hancock. When he left the cultured 
occupants of the mansion he had occupied so long 
he handed the pipe to Steptoe's father and said : 

"Present this for me to your rebel son, with my 
compliments, in token of my respect for his brav- 
ery and soldierly bearing when a prisoner at 
Washington. I have heard of him; I suppose 
he was scrutinized because of the family from 
which he descended. Though \\q differ widely in 
the struggle now convulsing the nation, true sol- 
diers always respect each other.'' 

Steptoe is at the old Confederate Home near 
Little Rock and has that souvenir in his trunk, 
and directs it to be placed in his coffin when he 
is laid to rest in the cemetery here where heroes 
sleep. 



RESOURCES OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH 
AT COMMENCEMENT OF WAR. 



The population of the United States, as shown 
by the census of 1860, was 31,148,147, divided as 
follows between the Union and Confederate 
States : 

Population of the northern states, 23,485,722. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 295 

Population of the Confederate States, 7,652,- 

423. 

Number of troops mustered in the northern 
armies from the commencement to the conclu- 
sion of the war, 2,656,533. 

Number of troops enrolled in the Confederate 
army from the beginning to the conclusion of the 
war, 600,000. 

In these estimates it must be noted that the 
border states, counted as Confederate states, fur- 
nished a very large quota of troops to the north- 
ern army, and to that extent diminished the Con- 
federate resources, and augmented the northern 
armies. This was a source of very great weak- 
ness, and very largely crippled the Confederate 
States, from the opening of the war to the over- 
throw of the south. 

Delaware furnished the north 13,651 soldiers; 
Maryland, 49,737 ; Kentucky, 78,540 ; District of 
Cohimbia, 16,872; Missouri, 108,732 ; .Tennessee, 
12,797; New Mexico, 2,395; West Virginia, 32,- 
000. A total of 313,718. 

This estimate does not include the negro troops 
incorporated in the Federal army. The best cri- 
terion by which to estimate the number of negro 
troops in the field, at the command of the writer, 
is the number shown on the muster rolls at the 
surrender, then serving in the Federal army, 
viz. : 178,000. This does not include the number 
of negro troops killed in battle, and those who 
died of wounds and disease and those otherwise 
disabled for service. It is safe then to estimate 
the negro troops at two hundred thousand. 

This swells the grand total of troops drawn by 
the north from the Confederate States to 513,718. 



296 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

There is still another important factor to swell 
the list of troops arrayed against the south, ex- 
clusive of all the troops furnished by the north- 
ern states, viz. : foreigners, which were estimated 
by Secretary Stanton at the conclusion of the war 
at one hundred thousand. But very little re- 
liance attaches to that estimate, because in the 
same statement he estimates the negro troops in 
the field at one hundred thousand, when the rec- 
ords show one hundred and seventy-eight thou- 
sand negroes in the field at the surrender. The 
evident design of the secretary was to diminish 
the aid drawn to the Federal army from sources 
exclusive of the military strength of the northern 
states. But as the most conservative estimate, we 
take the secretary's figures as to the foreign ele- 
ment, and the records showing the negro strength 
of the army at the date of surrender, viz., one 
hundred and seventy-eight thousand. 

This swells the aid the north drew to her 
armies, exclusive of the resources of her own pop- 
ulation, to 613,718, an excess of over the total 
number of men the south had. The Federal army 
rolls show that the north at the conclusion of the 
war had then in the field 1,000,516 men, and the 
records show that at the conclusion of the war 
there were on the Confederate muster rolls of the 
army 174,223. But it is conservatively estimated 
that there was at that date not more than one 
hundred thousand in the Confederate army ef- 
fective for service. 

It was believed by every intelligent, well in- 
formed man in the south, for more than one year 
before the war closed, that the overthrow of the 
Confederacy was inevitable. This discouraging 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 297 

conyiction influenced many thousands of good 
men to desert the Confederate army and go to 
their distressed and suffering families, who were 
then in the Federal lines, where they could not 
be reached and forced back into the service of a 
cause they regarded as utterly hopeless. 

President Davis himself long foresaw the col- 
lapse of the Confederacy, and has given as a rea- 
son for prolonging the war after that conviction 
was forced on him, that the war was continued 
that better terms might be obtained in the end. 
A mass of vituperation and gassy thunder has 
been thrown by southern writers at their com- 
rades who foresaw the collapse inevitably com- 
ing, and quit the service to go to their distressed 
families. 

The inspiration of patriotism, which at the 
earlier and more hopeful stages of the war drew 
practically all men into it, was withdrawn, and 
left them solely in the pursuit of a shadow, from 
which no material advantage could possibly 
accrue. 

It has been conservatively estimated by a 
southern writer whose name now escapes the 
author, to his regret, that the Federal armies lost 
in killed on the field, and those who died of 
wounds and diseases during the war, 412,550 
men, and the enormous pension rolls of the 
United States seem to swell rather than dimin- 
ish that estimate. The same writer estimates the 
Confederates killed in battle at fifty-three thou- 
sand, and deaths from wounds and disease at one 
hundred thousand. It is impossible to get at 
exact statistics, but it is believed these approxi- 
mations are as nearly correct as will ever be 
obtained. 



298 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

JOHN NEVILL, THE COURIER. 



In June, 1862, General Pike, with his com- 
mand, was at Fort McCulloch, and General 
Cooper was one hundred and eighty miles away 
at the Creek Agency. Pike anticipated an early 
attack by the Federals, and sent Nevill with dis- 
patches to Cooper to hurry to his aid. Nevill 
then owned one of the gentlest, finest and best 
bottomed horses he had ever mounted. He 
reached Fourteen Mile creek, 166 miles distant, 
without incident or molestation, at ten o'clock in 
the night, which was excessively dark, and the 
creek was overhung with dense foliage, which en- 
hanced the Egyptian darkness. 

The bluff overhanging the creek was over one 
hundred feet high, and the path leading down 
to the crossing was very narrow, steep and diffi- 
cult in the daytime, but his horse was as gentle 
as a house cat and he anticipated no difficulty in 
crossing. But to his astonishment, when he put 
his feet in the defile, he snorted in alarm, reared 
up and plunged backward, and utterly refused to 
advance, even when severely spurred. In this 
way she backed up grade twenty yards, trembling 
with fright. 

Finding it impossible to control the animal, 
Nevill dismounted and securely tied the horse to 
a tree with a stout leather halter. Then he cau- 
tiously proceeded to the defile to ascertain the 
cause of trouble. He could not see two feet in 
advance, and in caution held his pistol in hand 
ready for emergency. When fifteen or twenty 
yards down the defile he stumbled against an ob- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 299 

struction, stooped and felt of it, and found the 
dead body of an Indian. 

The mystery was solved and the difficulty ap- 
parently over when he removed the dead body 
from the defile, which could only be done by 
dragging it up twenty yards and away from the 
path. This he soon accomplished, to find his 
difficulties doubled. When he went to mount 
the animal he found it wilder than ever with 
alarm, and for ten minutes would not suffer him 
to get to the tree to untie the halter. Evidently 
the alarm was caused by the scent the rider had 
got in handling the dead body. He must get to 
the horse; the dispatches were in a leather case 
attached to the saddle. If he had them he could 
proceed on foot without the frenzied horse. 

Finally, after great worry and chagrin, he got 
to the tree and untied the halter, thinking his 
troubles then over. But the horse would not let 
him come nearer than the end of the halter. Ne- 
vill then presented his pistol, intending to kill 
the horse as a last resort to get the dispatches. 
But the horse, long accustomed to firearms, 
seemed conscious of danger when the gun was 
drawn on him, and with one tremendous spring 
jerked loose and endeavored to escape through 
the jungle, followed by his master, not from 
sight, but from the noise the animal made in 
forcing its way through. 

Finally the stout halter became entangled and 
brought the horse to a standstill. Nevill then 
succeeded in regaining possession of the end of 
the halter, and after much difficulty got out of 
the jungle and attempted to get to the horse to 
remount, but the animal resisted as stoutly as 



300 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

ever. Then Nevill drew his pistol again and with 
an oath presented it and said, '^I will kill you/' 

To his surprise the horse squatted nearly to 
the ground, trembling all over, as much as to 
say, ^'I submit," and did so more dead with fear 
than alive. He then mounted the horse without 
any trouble whatever, before it rose from the 
squatting position, and then entered the defile 
where the dead body was found, but the animal 
flew down with dangerous speed and across the 
creek, and dry bed on the opposite side, knocking 
the fire from the rocks at every jump. 

Some horses possess remarkable sagacity, 
which we call, for want of a better name, instinct, 
but it is a degree of intelligence, or else nothing, 
and it is only acquired by education, observation 
and association. That animal knew what the 
drawn pistol foreboded as well as his master 
did, and only submitted to save his life. 

The writer has owned two such horses. This 
noblest of animals enjoys martial music on the 
battlefield as well as the rider, and perhaps bet- 
ter. Horses have been known, after the rider 
was shot off, to push into their places in the col- 
umn and keep them. 

After proceeding six miles from the creek, 
Nevill met with another exciting adventure. The 
horse, in the darkness of the night, relies on its 
very keen sense of hearing and smelling. The 
horse suddenly stopped in the road, threw up his 
head and expelled the wind from his lungs, which 
was an unerring indication that something prob- 
ably of a dangerous character was near at hand. 
But Nevill, whilst heeding this warning, could 
neither see nor hear anything. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 301 

He reined his horse a little way off the path 
and sat still to await developments. In less than 
a minute a solitary rider approached, humming 
in a low Indian voice. He halted the rider and 
asked who he was and what he was after. 

The rider called out, "I am Robinson Jenkins, 
a friendly Indian, and am going after the body of 
my dead brother, who was killed yesterday back 
at Fourteen Mile creek." 

He was an old acquaintance and a good In- 
dian, something Kit Carson said he had never 
found. Nevill told him of his adventure, where 
to find the body, and spurred on to the agency, 
where he arrived about daylight and delivered 
the dispatches to General Cooper, who put his 
command on the long march as soon as possible. 

This young courier, raised on the borders of 
civilization, where the whites and Indians were 
in almost constant contact, met every obligation 
and performed every trust with dispatch and un- 
swerving fidelity, whether on the battlefield or in 
any other line of duty. 

His first battle was at Wilson's Creek, and the 
first man he ever saw killed in battle was the 
lamented Omer Weaver, of Woodruff's battery, a 
blacksmith by profession, a man by nature, like 
his comrade, John H. Thomas, of Kentucky. He 
was often on the staff of General Cooper. 

Later on in the fall of the same year the Fed- 
erals were in possession of the greater portion of 
the Indian Territory ; in fact, nearly all that part 
east of the Arkansas river, which was then the 
line between Fort Smith and Fort Gibson, eighty 
miles apart. 



302 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Grand river empties into the Arkansas a little 
Diore than one mile below Fort Gibson, the latter 
being situated on a high promontory between the 
two rivers, and is a place of great natural 
strength. 

President Davis was a lieutenant in the old 
United States army stationed at Fort Gibson, 
when he married the daughter of General Zach- 
ary Taylor, much against the will of the old gen- 
eral of the army. 

At the time of which we now speak, General 
Cooper held possession of the fort and the Fed- 
erals were marching down the neck of land sep- 
arating the two rivers to attack Fort Gibson. 

Colonel Drew, commanding a regiment of In- 
dians, was camped a few miles above the fort 
when Cooper ascertained that the Federals were 
advancing, and in near proximity to Colonel 
Drew's outpost. 

The night before the day of which we now 
speak, the Federals advanced to Grand river and 
opened a cannonade on Fort Gibson ; also a brisk 
infantry fire. Nevill was then on Cooper's staff. 
Cooper was a large portly man, perfectly cool 
and brave, and often unnecessarily exposed him- 
self to the enemy. He was a conspicuous mark 
for the sharpshooter. 

Apprehensive that Colonel Drew might be sur- 
prised, he told Nevill to go get old Prince, a 
very fine gray horse belonging to the general; 
then go up the river, cross over and go tell 
Colonel Drew to be on the lookout for the Fed- 
erals; that their attack on the fort was now in 
progress and might be a feint to keep him from 
coming to his rescue. 



Remimscences of the Civil War. 303 

Nevill was soon in the saddle and across the 
river, where he discovered the Indians in hot re- 
treat across the Arkansas, pursued by the Fed- 
erals, who made them cut the water and dust 
very lively. Whilst looking on this very ani- 
mated and lively exhibition of double quick, 
without regard to Hardee^s tactics, Nevill found 
himself cut off from retreat on all sides except 
the Arkansas river, the banks of which at that 
point were very precipitous and the current very 
swift. 

The lowest place he could find was twelve to 
fifteen feet above the current. He drove the spurs 
into old Prince and he leaped out into the cur- 
rent, sinking and carrying the rider beneath the 
waves, but the noble old war horse rose to the 
surface snorting, and struck out for the opposite 
shore and ascended through a storm of bullets, 
escaping injury. 

The enemy was repulsed at the fort. 



JOHN NEVILL ON THE FRONTIER. 



John Nevill was born in what is now Fort 
Smith, Arkansas, of Irish parentage. The site 
of that now flourishing city was nothing but a 
frontier army post. His father was a soldier in 
the United States army from 1805 until 1810, 
under the celebrated General Banneville, who 
explored the west in 1805 to 1810, when it was 
a trackless wilderness. John's father was one of 
that little band of exploring heroes who accom- 
panied General Banneville as far as Astoria on 
the Columbia river. After they entered the 



304 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

trackless wilderness, they were without commun- 
ication with the government for a period of five 
years. They were all given up for lost by the 
government and dropped from the army rolls, 
from the impression that all had perished at the 
hands of the Indians. When they returned, at 
least those that survived the extraordinary hard- 
ships unavoidably incident to that perilous jour- 
ney, they were restored to the army rolls and 
paid. General Banneville kept a diary of his 
hardships and wanderings in the wilderness, 
which, at the instance of John Jacob Astor, was 
handed to that pioneer in American literature, 
Washington Irving, who wrote from that diary 
as the foundation of that charming book, "As- 
toria." 

Long after that ever memorable journey to the 
west, John was born in 1844. Like most Irish- 
men, John, though but a youth of seventeen, was 
ready and anxious to join the Confederate army. 

Reared at that frontier army post, where the 
Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole and Osage 
tribes of Indians did their trading and were al- 
most constantly in contact and communication 
with the citizens and soldiers at the post, he be- 
came acquainted with the language of these 
tribes, their character, habits and customs. A 
bright and fearless youth, under these conditions 
he advanced rapidly in Indian lore. These facili- 
ties qualified him in an eminent degree for the 
perils and duties devolving on a scout and long 
distance courier through hostile tribes of In- 
dians in the territory. Generals Pike and Cooper, 
both of whom he served successfully and emi- 
nently in that capacity, as well as that of a sol- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 305 

dier at intervals when those duties were not re- 
quired. 

The Indians, as we have seen, were divided in 
their allegiance to the respective hostile armies 
in the field. The celebrated Stan Waitie, a noble 
Cherokee, drew most of his tribe after him in the 
service of the Confederate States. He was edu- 
cated, talented and brave, and rose to the rank 
of brigadier general. Kemnants of all the other 
tribes also followed the banner of Stan Waitie. 

Hopoeithleyola (pronounced Hopoth-le-o-la) 
was chief of the Creek Indians, the large majority 
of whom followed him in the Federal cause, with 
many remnants from the other tribes. 

Jack McCurtin, a Choctaw, was possessed of 
much knowledge; was brave and daring in the 
extreme. He espoused the Confederate cause 
and became a daring scout and spy, often enter- 
ing the Federal lines in disguise and always 
escaped detection and capture. He was in Gen- 
eral Cooper's brigade. But it is not our purpose 
to write a history of the Indian soldiers on either 
side, only in so far as such information throws 
light on the subject in hand. 

The Pin Indians, the Tubby or uneducated In- 
dians belonging to the Cherokees, broke away 
from the main body of their tribe who followed 
Stan Waitie and ostensibly acted in concert with 
the Federals, but really as a roving band of ma- 
rauders, pillaging where they could do so with 
impunity, and roving bands of other tribes did 
likewise on both sides. This state of warfare in 
the Territory made it very hazardous for soli- 
tary scouts and couriers, traveling alone for hun- 
dreds of miles, both day and night. 



3o6 Reminiscences of the Civil Wai\ 

General Douglass H. Cooper, a native of Mis- 
sissippi, had long been Indian agent stationed in 
the Territory. He adhered with much tenacity 
and firmness of purpose to the Confederacy. The 
matters detailed in this chapter commenced with 
the war in 1861. A majority of the Choctaws and 
Chickasaws, with remnants from other tribes, 
rallied under the command of General Cooper. 
The other Indians who espoused the Confederate 
cause rallied under and around General Pike. 

The Federals and Confederates attached too 
much importance to the Indian tribes during the 
early stages of the war, and the sequel confirms 
this opinion of the writer. Early in December, 
1861, Hopoeitleyola and Halek Tustenuggee, 
the latter a Seminole, concentrated their forces 
and whipped the Indians under Colonel Cooper. 

That battle gave the Federal Indian over- 
whelming confidence in their ability to whip any 
Confederate army, whether composed of Indians 
or white men. The Confederates deemed it of 
much importance to dispel that illusion, which 
they did on the twenty-sixth of December, 1861, 
in the battle of Chustenahlah, hereinbefore de- 
scribed in a former chapter. The Federal In- 
dians, after that battle, broke up into maraud- 
ing guerrilla bands and traversed the Territory 
in every direction, where they thought they could 
succeed in capturing booty. 

With this explanation it will readily be seen 
that dangers and difficulties confronted long dis- 
tance couriers and scouts. 

John Nevill, the bold Irish youth, in the spring 
of 1862, was sent as bearer of dispatches by Gen- 
eral Pike to Colonel Cooper, then at old Fort 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 307 

Davis, three miles below Fort Gibson, at the con- 
fluence of Grand and Arkansas rivers. The Pin 
Indians infested this route in predatory guer- 
rilla bands, ostensibly acting as Federals. They 
were uneducated full bloods and were as mean 
and treacherous as the Apaches of New Mexico 
and Arizona. To take a scalp without incurring 
danger was regarded by them as the type of a 
great warrior. 

The courier threaded his way up the south 
bank of the Arkansas river, a distance of eighty 
miles, through a district infested by these In- 
dians. When thirty miles out he came to an un- 
comfortably fresh Indian trail full of fresh 
tracks going on the same road or trail he was. 
This challenged the utmost caution and circum- 
spection. Most men would have retreated or 
changed their course; but as that would involve 
delay and loss of time in delivering the urgent 
message, he kept straight forward on the trail 
with an eye as alert as an Alpine chamois, avail- 
ing himself of every advantage the physical con- 
formation of the land offered to discover unob- 
served the enemy in front. Soon his cautious 
sagacity enabled him to discover sixteen Pin 
Indians. 

It was now of the utmost importance to take 
advantage of every obstruction to their vision on 
his line of approach. He was mounted on a mule 
of good bottom and staying qualities, but defi- 
cient in speed if it became necessary to retreat in 
the event of discovery. This want of sufficient 
speed in that event rendered his position all the 
more perilous. After the lapse of thirty minutes 



3o8 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

he heard the guns of the Indians ring out om- 
inously on the air. 

Getting behind a mound covered with under- 
growth and of sufficient elevation to conceal him 
from their vision, he approached the enemy 
within three hundred yards and found them 
elated and exulting in a murder they had com- 
mitted and scalp they had taken from their vic- 
tim, a white man. 

The Indians then mounted and proceeded on 
the highway in the direction of Weber's Falls, a 
village some miles distant on the Arkansas river, 
where he supposed they would cross the river and 
so far as they were concerned leave his way open. 
The village was inhabited with a mixed popula- 
tion of whites and a few non-combatant Indians. 
He followed them up unobserved, and it was but 
a short time until he heard the Indian guns 
again ; another victim and another scalp. 

After the Indians advanced Nevill rode up to 
the body of the victim and at a short distance on 
the crest of a mound saw a friend, or supposed 
friend, of the murdered victim approaching. But 
this solitary man, not knowing whether Nevill 
was friend or foe, as soon as he observed him, 
spurred his horse and was soon lost to view. 

The victim was not yet dead but was in the 
agonies of dissolution and unable to communi- 
cate anything to the courier. Nevill now ad- 
vanced to a clump of trees on the margin of the 
river in full view of Weber's Falls, where he 
could observe whether the Indians deflected their 
course by crossing the river, and thus leaving his 
course beyond the Falls open. When the Indians 
rode into the village the inhabitants w^ere seized 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 309 

with the utmost fear and consternation, but the 
Indians did not commit any outrages there. 
After a short stay they crossed the river and were 
soon lost to view. 

Nevill then rode into the village with a feeling 
of much relief, but found the inhabitants in the 
utmost consternation, and abandoning the vil- 
lage as fast as possible, for fear the Indians 
would soon recruit their numbers, return and 
massacre the inhabitants. 

When he rode into the village a strange man 
approached him, whom he could not distinguish 
as to whether he was Cherokee or a white man. 
He spoke good English, and was much excited. 
He said to Nevill : 

"What on earth are you doing here alone? You 
are the kind of man the Pin Indians are looking 
for. If they find you they will kill and scalp 
you." 

"I know that very well," said Nevill. "I have 
been on their trail and watching them all day un- 
observed. They have now left my road, and I 
am in no immediate danger from them." 

And was answered: 

"Those Pin Indians are merely acting as spies. 
They do not feel strong enough to take the town, 
but they may be back here before daylight with 
reinforcements to attack us, and we are getting 
our women and children in a safe place, and our- 
selves in a good position to meet them. When 
they find we are ready to receive them they will 
not attack us." 

It was now getting late and Nevill put spurs to 
his animal in the effort to reach Foster's house 
that night, some twenty miles distant. Foster 



3IO Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

was a white man, with an Indian wife, and a 
house full of half breeds, and was a staunch Con- 
feedrate in sympathy, but not of the soldier class. 

It was past nine o'clock of the night when 
Nevill halted at the yard gate. He hailed, and 
hailed, and hailed again, without answer; when 
very suddenly a man stepped up from behind 
with a double barreled shotgun cocked and pre- 
sented within two feet of his face, and asked : 

"What do you want here this time of night?" 

Nevill said: 

*^Is thai the way you greet vour friends, Fos- 
ter?" 

And the latter asked : 

"Is that you, John? Oh, yes. Then get down 
and come in ; but don't you know, John, that it is 
very dangerous to call at a man's house that way 
so late in the night, without calling out your 
name? I came in an ace of killing you, but found 
that I could creep up behind you and prevent 
you from killing me, and that was all that saved 
your life. Never do that again during these per- 
ilous times without giving your name when you 
call." 

John reached his destination next morning 
and delivered the dispatches to Colonel Cooper. 

This history fully attests the courage, judg- 
ment and sagacity of the bold and fearless Irish 
boy, who has since the war filled many places of 
honor and trust with great fidelity to duty. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 311 



SEEGEANT JOHN A. WOOLLEN. 



John overflowed the high water mark in the 
effervescence of life, all along down the line to 
old age, e:ray hairs and crutches. 

Always, through storm and sunshine, a rare 
bird of tropical plumage, with his heart full of 
sunshine and his eye on floral pages. To him 
there was no dark colorings in the landscape of 
life. He enjoyed wit and the serio-comic phases 
of life in all the viscissitudes and variations of 
many sided man, whether amidst a hailstorm of 
bullets on the battlefield, or the associations of 
peace and plenty in the civic walks of life. 

The hoarded fortunes of the millionaire is a 
parched Sahara of trouble and desolation in the 
scorching sands of corroding avarice, compared 
to John's wealth of appreciation and enjoyment 
of the rainbow phases of life under all its varied 
aid shifting conditions. 

Not long after John donned the plumage of a 
warrior. Colonel Fagan and the officers of his 
regiment were invited to a country wedding in 
Hempstead county. Ark , to celebrate the bans 
of wedlock between Reuben Kirkendal and Miss 
Mary Jane Foster. All went to enjoy the strik- 
ing contrast between a limited camp kettle fare 
and the luxurious spread at a wedding feast. 
The mere invitation was an appetizer. 

Most of the ministers in the country had gone 
to ihe war, either as chaplains or soldiers, and 
the aged minister who was expected to appear 
and perform the ceremony did not appear. This 



312 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

cast a deep gloom over the guests as well as the 
affianced. 

The rollicking John easily overcame the di- 
lemma. He called his comrades aside and re- 
quested them to introduce him as Judge Tatum, 
of the probate court of a distant county, who 
would perform the ceremony. Strange to say, 
the pious fraud was adopted and carried out 
after a fashion. John was no expert in the cere- 
monial necessary to fix the conjugal tie, and 
when the test came could not call to mind any 
part of the usual ritual on such occasions. He 
had embarrassed himself, but was too proud and 
self confident to confess it and ask for a little 
prompting or any suggestion from any of his 
comrades. 

When the pair stepped out before him he said ; 

"Mr. Kirkendal, hold up your right hand. Do 
you solemnly swear that you will make Miss 
Mary Jane Foster a true and lawful husband 
until death?'' 

The same oath was administered to Miss Marf , 
and they were pronounced husband and wife l>y 
Judge Tatum. The couple finally bought a faim 
near Mount Ida, Arkansas, and raised a large 
family of sons and daughters. 

John was accorded the seat of honor at the 
table, and was equally radical in departure fr^m 
<3ustom in asking a blessing. | 

He was with General Price in Missouri, and tas 
in a great number of battles and skirmishes in 
Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, where 
his command, for a time, was attached to Gen- 
eral Cooper's brigade of Confederate Indian 
troops. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 313 

On one occasion John ordered himself to go 
by himself some miles out from camp to seek 
chickens, butter and eggs, which the commis- 
sary could not issue. He secured one half 
dozen fine chicks, divided and tied them securely 
to his saddle and steered homeward, having the 
advantage of a superb fleet horse if the Federals 
got hot on his trail. 

Before leaving a mile behind him his appre- 
hensions were realized in the crack of two guns 
of ominous import, which came from two 
mounted gents of Federal persuasion, whose de- 
signs were evidently not pacific enough to detain 
John out on the open prairie where long range 
guns at six hundred yards were reliable, and in 
the classic language of the camp, not to be much 
monkeyed with. 

John says : "If I had dropped my chickens it 
would have been easy sailing; the men in blue, 
as well as the men in gray, had an appetite for 
such relishes, but you bet I was not going to play 
huckster for them as long as my horse's heels 
held out. He had the bottom and the speed. I 
had the spurs and let him have them. The six 
chickens flopped against hip and thigh and 
squalled for life whilst I run for it. 

"The yankees kept popping away whilst I ran 
away at a speed which would have challenged 
Nancy Hanks' admiration. But the battle is 
not always to the strong, whilst it does often 
favor the swift. One-half mile ahead I saw a 
friendly mound and utilized the advantages it 
afforded and made for it. Around its base I was 
out of sight, dismounted, tied my horse and 
stepped to its apex, sheltered by a clump of 



314 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

sumac bushes, and there ^on Dixie's land I took 
my stand/ and would not have given a tinker's 
damn for any better thing than I had then. Old 
Betsy was as true as my horse's heels and my 
sight was as good as an eagle's. 

"I waited until the charging gents came within 
close range and then turned Old Betsy loose, let 
her have her way for the first time, and killed the 
horse of the foremost rider, knowing that would 
change the tide and inspire the other rider with 
a vehement desire for achievement in a rear 
march, and my diagnosis was right — he did not 
stop to comfort his dismounted comrade. ^Get, 
you bet,' was the motto which inspired his flut- 
tering heart. I suppose he thought hundreds lay 
in ambush behind the mound. 

"I then mounted my charger and went for the 
solitary footpad who was mauling the earth in 
dead earnest with his pedal extremities. He 
threw away his gun as a weary encumbrance, and 
as I rode up to the almost breathless knight he 
threw up his hands, saying in dead earnest : 

" 'Don't shoot. I surrender.' 

"I took him at his kind word, rested him until 
he caught his wind, and then with the grace of a 
Chesterfield requested him to relieve my horse 
of the chickens and throw them across his 
shoulder, three in rear, three in front, and then 
politely invited him to take the lead in the path- 
way to the Confederate camp, and he complied 
with as much grace as a cultured lackey." 

Camp monotony was again at a discount. A 
wag poked fun at the poor prisoner by asking 
him if all of his brigade carried squawking haver- 
sacks. The witty wag said : 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 315 

*'No ; I took this feathered haversack from one 
of your men whom I found playing huckster 
away out on the prairie several miles from camp ; 
he invaded a henroost and gave up the prey when 
I overtook him." 

John always kept an eye on the good jugful 
of animations of life, whether they came to the 
front through the coiled pipes of a still house, 
the fermenting vats of hops or grapes, the egg 
and feathered plumage of a Methodist fowl, or 
from any other source of supply, whether ques- 
tionable or not, so it squared up to his ideal of 
the good and useful. But from this it must not 
be implied that John stepped over the conserva- 
tive limits of law, except on occasions when the 
rapid evolutions of his nature came in contact 
with iron military regulations. Even on such 
occasions he took many chances. 

On another occasion, in the Territory, whilst 
his regiment was acting in concert with General 
Cooper's Indian brigade, he rode off by himself 
in quest of some anti-monotonous' commodity 
when the enemy's lines were in dangerous prox- 
imity. But nothing ill betided this adventure. 

On his return to camp late in the evening he 
heard an Indian war dance in full blast some dis- 
tance to his right which excited his curiosity. He 
rode up and found a dozen Indians belonging to 
General Cooper's command dancing around a 
Federal prisoner who had just been captured by 
them. 

They had stripped him of all his clothing and 
gave him a misfit Indian suit in exchange, made 
him get in it, and one of the leading Indians got 
in his suit. They were dancng his funeral dirge. 



3i6 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

The poor prisoner was as white as death on a 
pale horse. His ivory teeth were rattling off a 
death jig. Two negro soldiers were captured 
with him — buffalo soldiers as the Indians called 
them. They had been killed and scalped before 
his eyes, and their bloody scalps were dangling 
on the scalp pole. The prisoner had been re- 
served for the final execution. With him it was 

"Hark ! from the tomb a doleful sound ! 
My ears attend the cry. 
Ye mortal men, come view the ground 
Where you must shortly lie." 

John whipped out his pistol, made the Indians 
give the prisoner his clothes, and took charge of 
him. 

The Indians said: 

"We no kill white man; we kill buffalo sol- 
diers, all-e-catch." 

The prisoner accompanied his deliverer to 
camp, where he was treated like a gentleman, 
and enjoyed the change and welcome surprise as 
much as the drunkard did who had been taken 
in an unconscious state of inebriety and covered 
up in his sleepy debauch with soft earth, except 
his breathing apparatus, in a graveyard. At 
daybreak he awoke with tombstones all around 
him. After surveying the solemn scene he said to 
himself : "This is the morn of resurrection and I 
am the first man up, but I don't see Jesus nor 
anybody else rising. I never heard the trumpet 
and I don't suppose they did. Jesus or Gabriel 
will blow again." 

Passing over the innumerable battles he par- 
ticipated in, skirmishes and dare devil adven- 
tures, we pick up the thread again near Camden, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 317 

Arkansas. After negroes became an arm of the 
Federal service against their masters, John was 
on vidette duty one day on the Camden road. 

Negro soldiers were active in prowling over 
the country in search of pelf and plunder. They 
went to the houses of many helpless women and 
children whose husbands and brothers were in 
the Confederate army and robbed them of beds, 
bed clothing, jewelry, fowls, hogs and whatever 
they found to their taste. 

These marauders in United States uniform 
were not popular, to say the least, outside the 
armies in which they were incorporated. A few 
days before that one hundred of these negro sol- 
diers belonging to General Steele's command 
were killed in battle. 

The vidette stand John occupied was at a 
thickly wooded part of the road, which afforded 
a good opportunity to approach unobserved and 
pick him off. This quickened the vigilance of his 
eagle eye, for his life depended on his vigilance. 
In such situations the vigilance of a horse in de- 
tecting objects, both by sight and sound, is far 
superior to that of man, and the motions of the 
ears and head of the rider's horse, if closely ob- 
served, is a powerful aid to the vidette. In such 
situations life often hangs on the vigilance and 
sagacity of the rider in watching the movements 
of his horse. 

He had been at the stand about an hour before 
anything, or indication of anything, appeared. 
There was a dead calm in the atmosphere; the 
foliage was motionless. Suddenly his horse 
threw up his head, leaned his ears forward and 
looked as intently and intelligently as a man 



3i8 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

could, in the direction of the undergrowth, as 
thick as a jungle, and held his gaze in that direc- 
tion, without changing position. But the rider 
could not discover anything. Perhaps the horse 
only smelled something. After all it might be a 
mere animal. But the intense attention of the 
horse indicated with unerring certainty that 
something was in the jungle. 

Presently the rider saw a slight movement of 
the underbrush about sixty yards away, and the 
horse told plainly that the object concealed was 
there. Still nothing was seen by the rider, but 
the horse, as faithful as a well trained pointer 
dog setting game, held his gaze on the spot. 

John was now thoroughly convinced that he 
must observe the utmost diligence. He moved, 
turned around as though retreating, but kept his 
head turned in the direction of the jungle. If it 
was a man, seeking to take him off, he Avould stir 
immediately when he observed the object of his 
stealth moving away. The presumption was ver- 
ified. Immediately the object moved quickly for- 
ward thirty or forty feet, stirring the bushes 
overhead, indicating the line of approach. 

All doubt was now solved. It was evident that 
an enemy was in ambush to kill him and that the 
advantage was with the enemy up to this time. 
A large oak, one of those monarchs of the forest, 
was within a few feet of the vidette. Dismount- 
ing he embraced its shelter, holding his eye on the 
spot that sheltered the enemy. A few feet in ad- 
vance of that spot was a small opening through 
which the enemy must advance the next forward 
move, each playing a skillful and momentous 
game for life. The scale was turning in John's 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 319 

favor. He held a bead on that open spot. In a 
few minutes the enemy occupied it, creeping on 
all fours. John's rifle with steady aim rang out 
on the still air and the object fell over, uttering 
one farewell groan to all the scenes of earth. 

The tragedy closed over the scene. The vidette 
waited to be sure of the result before approach- 
ing the object with that caution which ever char- 
acterizes the judicious veteran. It was dead. 
The ball passed through the body from behind, 
just below the shoulders — a vital, deadly spot. It 
was a large, burly, stout negro belonging to Gen- 
eral Steele's command, wearing the Federal uni- 
form. 

John dragged the body to the road a few paces 
distant. On one of the negro's fingers was a 
fine gold ring. Presently two ladies on foot came 
along the road, and instantly one of the ladies 
recognized the negro as one who had robbed her 
house a few days before and identified the ring 
as her's, a ring which had sealed her marriage 
covenant with her husband, who was a soldier 
then in the Confederate army. She asked for its 
restoration, and after vigorous effort to disengage 
it from the bandit's finger without success, John 
cut the finger off and restored the souvenir to 
the owner, regretting the necessity for the mutil- 
ation, but feeling that the circumstances justi- 
fied it. 

The Ouachita river was not far off. Dense and 
almost impenetrable jungles filled the low lands, 
extending up to the banks of the river. Sloughs, 
lakes and bayous, alligators, marshes, wild beasts 
and a dense forest converted the region into a 
wilderness which afforded security to a mob of 



320 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

thieving negro deserters from the Federal army, 
who preferred the profession and pusuit of rob- 
bery to that of arms. The protection of the Fed- 
eral army and the disorganized state of society 
threw a mantle of fancied security and immunity 
around them. At this time the existence of the 
organization was known, but its habitat was not 
known. 

The ladies in all that region of country were 
greatly alarmed and earnestly sought the protect- 
ing arm of the Confederates. Nearly all men in 
that section of country able to bear arms were in 
the field, marshalled in the Confederate armies. 
The gallant young colonel, Henry G. Bunn, of 
Camden, was then leading the Fourth Arkansas 
infantry through seas of blood in the east. The 
soldier's wife who had been robbed of the ring 
was of that gallant, fearless and memorable regi- 
ment, so nobly and fearlessly led by their young 
and chivalrous colonel until the last hour of the 
civil war. That young colonel is now chief justice 
of the Supreme Court of Arkansas, full of years 
and full of honors, and yet as handsome in his 
old age as he was chivalrous and noble in his 
youth. 

With others, Sergeant Woollen listened to the 
appeals of the distressed families for protection. 
These appeals stirred the hearts of the true sol- 
diers to their foundations and aroused the tide of 
patriotism to overflowing. On the same day that 
he killed the negro in ambush, above stated, and 
within two hours thereafter, two of his videttes 
captured another negro deserter in Federal uni- 
form, who was one of the gang of thieves who 
preyed on the defenseless families in localities 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 321 

adjacent to Camden, the county seat of Ouachita 
county, Arkansas. Here at last was presented 
the prospective opportunity to discover the secret 
retreat and hiding place of these negro free- 
booters, who had spread so much terror through- 
out the surrounding country, and Seargeant 
Woollen resolved to force the prisoner to dis- 
close that hidden lair. He knew that prisoner 
would not voluntarily disclose the site of the 
den. At first, as expected, he vehemently denied 
any knowledge of the existence of such a clan 
of outlaws, and asserted that he had left his com- 
mand at Camden under furlough, but he could 
not produce the furlough and became tangled in 
contradictory efforts to manufacture an explana- 
tion for its non-production. 

"Tie him to a tree," said the sergeant. "If he 
does not tell in five minutes, shoot him dead; if 
he tells in two minutes we will spare his life, pro- 
vided he will pilot us to the den ; and even then 
we will kill him if we detect him lying to us. He 
is out now on a scout, fresh from that den." 

Cuflflie began to wobble in the knees, and said : 

"Sho you not kill me if I tells de troof ?" 

"No, you shall not be killed if you do not de- 
ceive us." 

"Den, massa, I make you de bes nigger you 
eber saw; dey is way down in de island, way 
cross de bayou in a ole canebrake, wha nobody 
eber goes. I sho de way. Dis nigger's life wuf 
mo to him dan all de world. I tells de troof, sho 
as I is a nigger." 

No one then doubted the fertility of his ve- 
racity. 

"How many are there, Sambo?" 



322 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"Sometime dey is mo, an' sometime dey am 
less. Sometime is a dozen or mo, an' sometimes 
dey is but six; and I has seed but fo dar at a 
time." 

"When did you leave there?" 

"I lef dar dis mornin'." 

"How many were there when you left?" 

"I s'pose 'bout seben ; mebe eight." 

"Where were all the others?" 

"Dey went out in de country to fotch in some- 
tin'." 

"Do they live in a house or tent?" 

"Dey hab a shante, kivered wid boards, an a 
arbor kivered wid brush." 

"How are they fixed for sleeping?" 

"Dey has feather beds, an quilts an blankets, an 
chars an cook tensils, an plenty ob everything all 
wants, and whin dey ain't enuf dey goes an gits 
it." 

"When it's cloudy or dark how do they tell the 
time of day or night?" 

"Oh, deys got plenty gold watches an some 
clocks." 

"Where do they get all these things?" 

"Dey goes roun de country whar de mens are 
away and takes whateber dey wants." 

"How far are they from here?" 

"You means de camp, I spose?" 

"Yes, the camp." 

"Well, I spose its five miles ; mebe six." 

That was enough. John sent to headquar- 
ters for three more men, making six in his squad, 
and after daylight proceeded with the prisoner 
as guide to himself and men, through the tor- 
tuous windings of jungle and morass to the out- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 323 

law rendezvous. They approached cautiously 
and silently within fifty yards of the outlaws 
without being discovered. 

Seven were lying down on blankets in an 
awkward position for a certain dead shot. It 
was required of the prisoner to give a friendly 
call at which all would rise on their feet. It 
was also arranged that the man on the right 
should fire on the man facing his right, and so on 
to the sixth man, so as to make every shot count 
without waste of ammunition. At the signal 
six outlaws fell to the earth to rise no more, and 
the seventh was wounded, but made his escape 
in the jungle. Everything the prisoner had 
mentioned was found there. The outlaws were 
all clothed in new Federal uniforms and armed 
with Federal guns, with an abundance of am- 
munition, and were all deserters. 

John kept faith with the prisoner and turned 
him loose, with the admonition to make it his 
business to see all the negro men in that region 
and make known to them that they would be 
hunted down like wild beasts and killed wher- 
ever found engaged in pillaging defenseless 
women and children. This, in a great measure, 
had the desired effect. 

At that time the Federals had possession of 
Helena, Camden, Pine Bluff, Little Kock, Fay- 
etteville and many other points in Arkansas. 
General Steele's headquarters had been trans- 
ferred from Little Rock to Camden, preparatory 
to collecting and sending large reinforcements 
to General Banks, who was then prosecuting his 
celebrated disastrous expedition up Red river in 
Louisiana. Generals Price, Taylor, Marmaduke, 



324 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Fagan, Shelby and Holmes had concentrated a 
force of about 8,000 effective men near Camden, 
Ark., to checkmate and drive back General 
Steele's attempt to reinforce General Banks. 
General Steele in his report estimates the Con- 
federate force at forty thousand men, an over- 
shot estimate of thirty-two thousand men. Such 
is the infirmity of pride and weakness manifested 
to prevent and forestall the loss of fame. The 
attempt to reinforce General Banks proved as 
disastrous in execution as that general's over- 
whelming disaster at Mansfield. 

The Sixth Kansas cavalry and a regiment of 
negro troops, whilst guarding one hundred wag- 
ons and teams, were attacked by the Confeder- 
ates and completely routed. The wagons and 
teams were captured, one hundred negroes killed, 
and many wounded. A few days after the Con- 
federates attacked a large body of Federal troops 
at Marks' Mill, between Pine Bluff and Camden, 
which were acting as convoy of two hundred and 
fifty wagons and teams. They captured all the 
wagons and teams and fifteen hundred prisoners. 
This ended General Steele's effort to reinforce 
General Banks. His own situation was now 
perilous, and he retreated back to Little Rock — 
a disastrous retreat, in which the Federals lost 
a severe engagement at Jenkins' ferry, on the 
Saline river. 

Before leaving Camden the Federals destroyed 
their large magazine of stores, collected in abun- 
dance for the intended expedition to Red river. 
The Ouachita river was filled, choked and 
damned up with a vast amount of army supplies. 
A more precipitous retreat was perhaps never 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 325 

before made by a superior from an inferior force. 

John had many narrow escapes, and many 
thrilling adventures. He was engaged in many 
battles, but the limit of this volume does not 
admit of their detail. 

The latter part of the year 1864 found him 
sick in the saddle at Fayetteville, Arkansas, from 
which point he rode to Center Point, in Howard 
county, Arkansas, one hundred and fifty miles, 
sick. By this time a severe case of smallpox had 
developed, and he was placed in an old outhouse 
belonging to Adam Boyd, the solitary occupant 
of a pest house, but not deserted. Mrs. Woods, 
the daughter of Adam Boyd, whose husband was 
then a Confederate soldier in the army of Vir- 
ginia, came to his assistance with that sublime 
heroism which has entwined laurel and immor- 
telles of fadeless beauty and glory with the names 
and patriotic deeds and sacrifices of our south- 
ern women, which will bear fruit and shine like a 
diadem as long as the history of our race is pre- 
served. Too much can never be said in their 
praise. 

The writer has often seen cultured matrons of 
this great southland, who had been reared to no- 
ble womanhood in the lap of abundant wealth 
and luxury, driving an ox wagon loaded with 
cotton to the arteries and marts of commerce, 
then in possession of Federal armies, to exchange 
it for the necessities of life, when their husbands, 
brothers and sons were in the Confederate army, 
and their slaves in the Federal army. I have 
seen them carding, spinning and weaving cloth 
in that old antiquated houseloom, making cloth- 
ing for the southern soldier. I have seen them 



326 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

spinning and toiling night and day with as much 
devotion as the Marys exhibited at the foot of 
Calvary. They converted their once luxurious 
homes into hospitals, where sick and wounded 
Confederate soldiers were nursed with the ten- 
derness of a mother. I have seen them deny and 
reduce themselves to the extreme verge of neces- 
sity to furnish southern armies. 

I recall in all history but one parallel in the 
sublime and heroic devotion of women. When 
Carthage was besieged by the Romans, her noble 
matrons cut off their hair and wove it into bow- 
strings for their soldiers. 

The stricken soldier in that pest house said to 
the noble young woman who came to his rescue : 

"You are young, with the best years of a useful 
life before you. Avoid this loathesome pest 
house, save and preserve yourself for that sacred 
companionship you owe to my noble comrade, 
your dear husband, who is in the far off, stricken 
land of Virginia. I owe a sacred duty to him to 
preserve, protect and shield his wife as I would 
my mother and sister, from harm and danger. I 
feel that my race is nearing its close. It is better 
that I perish than you." 

With tears in her eyes and a choking voice, 
she said : 

"It is better that I perish than you. You over 
estimate the danger. I would not be worthy of 
my noble soldier husband, your comrade in a 
glorious cause, were I to neglect this opportunity 
to do for you as I would others to do for him 
under like circumstances. Nursed to health you 
may yet wield a soldier's arm. Were I to aban- 
don you my conscience would smite me to the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 327 

last day. We are in the midst of a terrible war 
which requires all to make sacrifices and meet 
with willing hearts all of its demands. No, sir ; 
I will not leave you under any consideration 
whatever, save that of sickness and inability to 
discharge what I consider an imperative duty." 

Through the dark vigils of long weary nights 
a dim light cast its soft rays over that pest house. 
There sat the soldier's wife, watching, waiting, 
administering every necessity and comfort pos- 
sible. When exhaustion overcame her physical 
powers, Adam Boyd, her noble sire, took her 
place, and when convalescence appeared they 
conveyed and installed him in the father's man- 
sion and nursed him to health. 

Other Confederate soldiers were stricken down 
with that dreadful and loathesome disease, and 
all were alike taken in charge by that noble 
young wife and her father, assisted by John to 
the utmost of his power. 

Great kings and glorious queens, elevated to 
place and power, surrounded with the plumage 
and pomp of gilded courts, have monopolized the 
pages of historic renown, to the exclusion of no- 
ble men and greater women in the humbler walks 
of life, and the average historian, dazzled by ele- 
vation more than by nobility of character, casts 
his eye and points his pen to the fictitious dome 
rather than to the foundation where God has 
stationed the strength which most glorifies his 
works. 



328 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

IRISH WIT, REVENGE AND HUMOR. 



John Nevill, of the Arkansas troops, tells the 
following story on a countryman of his. 

Michael Harrington, of Corkonian brogue, an 
educated dare devil who would as soon be in the 
severest battle as on the road with a shillalah to 
Donneybrook fair. In 1864 the conscript law in 
Arkansas was rigidly enforced in all parts of the 
state not within rigidly guarded Federal lines. 

During that period Captain Bull came into 
Camden with a very rough looking company of 
men. Many of them wore hats or caps made of 
coonskins, and their clothing looked like the rem- 
nants of antiquity. Such a scene as this, march- 
ing in a foot cavalcade to take position in an 
army of veterans, scattered monotony to the 
winds, and Mike Harrington of the Corkonian 
brogue of Old Erin headed the brigade of hilar- 
ity, much to the disgust of Captain Bull, who 
felt the weight of responsibility pressing heavily, 
and that it devolved on him to represent and de- 
fend his company. He proposed to Harrington 
to step aside with him a few miles out in the 
country and he would teach him whether legs 
or guns was the better defense in single handed 
collision. 

Harrington replied: 

"Your legs, of course. You would bate the 
undergrowth into the earth, and I'm not afther 
robbing the earth of its future forests." 

Captain Bull gnashed his teeth and foamed at 
the mouth like a wild boar. Very soon an oppor- 
tunity came for Bull to even up with Mike. He 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 329 

was temporarily honored with the post of com- 
missary sergeant for the distribution of beef. 
Whilst matters stood thus Mike was sent to the 
commissary sergeant to draw rations for the reg- 
iment he represented, and Captain Bull, against 
his vehement remonstrance, handed him nothing 
but the scraps and refuse parts of the beef. 

Soon after that episode the command was 
marched to Clarksville, Texas, where Mike took 
his turn to act as commissary sergeant. There 
was quite a lot of Texas hams and bacon sides 
for distribution. The hams and shoulders were 
a little tainted, for which reason the soldiers pre- 
ferred the si'de meat, which was free from that 
defect. Captain Bull's turn now came to draw 
rations for his company, and Mike handed out 
the tainted meat in abundance to him, whilst 
Bull was vociferously calling for side meat, but 
not a side was handed out. 

Bull with stentorian voice hallooed: 

"Have the hogs of Texas no sides?'' 

"No," replied Harrino^ton. 

"Why?" asked Bull. 

Harrington answered : 

"The hogs of Texas all split their sides laugh- 
ing at the Arkansas conscripts." 

Bull raved and snorted, and called for a court 
martial to close up and cut off any further dis- 
play of revenge and Irish wit at the expense of 
himself and company, but the application was 
denied. 

It is due to Captain Bull to say that he vehem- 
ently denied that his company was conscripted 
into the service. Harrington retorted that 1864 



330 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

was a very thin display of patriotism; that if 
they were patriots hunting a fight they would 
have come out three vears sooner. 



WHEN THE GILMORE SCOUTS DID 
BATTLE FOR CRINOLINE. 



The blockade of southern seaports during the 
war between the states imposed drastic restric- 
tions on commerce and reduced the supply of 
many articles of prime necessity to a distressing 
minimum, which was sadly felt in articles of 
fashionable dress by our southern belles and 
high born dames. The fashionable hoopskirt, al- 
though not strictly contraband of war, shared 
the restrictions imposed on toilet necessities as 
well as all other commodities of commerce or war 
material. 

During the winter of 1863-64 Campbell G. Gil- 
more, of the Maryland line of Confederate cav- 
alry, commanded a small company in the Shenan- 
doah valley, known as "the Gilmore scouts," who 
became famous throughout the army of Virginia 
as brave, chivalrous and fearless soldiers. These 
dashing knights of sword and spur were as gal- 
lant at fetes and balls as on the firing line. 

At one of the fetes in the Shenandoah valley 
given in their honor during the midwinter sus- 
pension of hostilities, when the two armies were 
encamped in near proximity, these gallant 
knights of the bonnie blue flag were jocosely re- 
minded of the hiatus the blockade had produced 
in the supply of crinoline, and half earnestly in- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 331 

timated their regret that the days of the Trouba- 
dours and knight errantry had passed. 

One of the jeweled dames, with an appealing 
smile, said: 

"If the days of the Troubadours had not van- 
ished into the mist of tradition the crinoline 
blockade on land could be raised/' 

It was then well known that the sutlers follow- 
ing the Federal army had abundant supplies of 
crinoline. 

The artistic reminder inspired the Gilmore 
scouts with resolution to rival the exploits of 
Don Quixote and his Sanco Panza — to make the 
sword subservient to love as well as war, without 
soiling the shield of a soldier. 

But war has its ludicrous as well as serious^ 
phases, and 

"The best laid schemes of mice and men g"ang- aft aglee." 

At that time a large division of the Federal 
army was encamped around Martinsburgh with 
large sutler supplies. 

An old darkey was sent in the Federal lines to 
locate the crinoline bazar, and came back with a 
glowing report of the abundance of the article 
at a certain sutler's store well on the outskirts of 
Martinsburgh, but there were both foot pickets 
and cavalry videttes guarding the army in the 
quiet repose of slumber. 

Gilmore picked nineteen of his men to attempt 
the serious achievement of capturing pickets and 
videttes without noise to arouse suspicion and 
discovery. By adroit generalship they accom- 
plished the feat, and thus removed every obstacle 



332 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

to their quiet march on the sutler's stand on a 
cold, dark wintry night. 

The descendant of Israel in charge of the stand 
surrendered at discretion and sat down with a 
woe begone face long enough to reach from Je- 
rusalem to Mount Lebanon, and vented his spleen 
on the Federal army, the officers of which, he 
said, had assured him that he would be immune 
from Confederate molestation, and frequently in 
sorrowful accent ejaculated, "Mine Got, vot hash 
da tells me! Da ruins me. I goes pack to mine 
store in New York, vare no soldiers prakes in an' 
takes mine goods." 

The twenty raiders abundantly helped them- 
selves to liquid and choice edible supplies, and 
then attacked the bountiful supplies of crinoline. 
Each of the twenty knights took twenty hoops 
and tethered them to the rear of their saddles, 
ten to a side, four hundred in all, waybilled for 
the Shenandoah valley, as reward for the hospi- 
talities of its beauty. Feeling the inspiration of 
love, wine and security from pursuit and capture, 
they were in no great hurry in departing with 
their knightly cargo. 

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and his ass 
never presented a more ludicrous and grotesque 
appearance, nor did they feel more secure in their 
attack on a wind mill to inflame the admiration 
of Dulcinea del Deboso. At three in the morning 
the knightly cavalcade, after some little exertion, 
owing to muscular relaxation, mounted and lei- 
surely pursued their twenty miles journey to the 
Confederate army in the famed valley. 

But, like the banquet at Brussels before Wat- 
erloo, the thoughts of beauty and splendor, at 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 333 

break of day was hailed in the rear with sharp 
crack of riHe in the hands of Federal pursuers. 
This proclamation of danger restored their re- 
laxed nerves to normal functions, and forced the 
choice of celerity to the gauge of battle, and de- 
termination to preserve their booty. 

But the large folds of crinoline flapped the 
thighs and flanks of their steeds like the ears of 
elephants, and both frightened and impeded the 
much desired celerity of their onward flight. 
Some of the huge bundles of spoil broke loose and 
were left in the road for recapture, the idea of a 
dismount to recover being impracticable for want 
of time. Ten of the twenty lost their spoils in 
this way, but the suspicion obtained that some 
were cut instead of broken loose. At all events 
two hundred of the four hundred skirts were lost 
in the flight. But all reached the Confederate 
camp in safety under spur with their bur- 
den of ludicrous chivalry absorbing the attention 
and exciting the hilarity of their comrades. 
Their zeal for triumph supplanted the elegance 
of appearance, with its burlesque and travesty 
on war. 

But the Gilmore scouts were victorious in 
bringing into camp two hundred skirts as a 
trojjhy for the belles of the Shenandoah. The 
serio-comic phases of war were repeated in Mar- 
tinsburgh when the heroes of the hoop marched 
through the streets with evidence of woman's 
influence in war. 

There was another banquet in the valley where 
the Gilmore scouts were honored for their cour- 
age and chivalry. 



3 34 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 



GEORGE W. McDOWEL AT THE BATTLE 
OF SHILOH. 



Like the sands of the sea when tested by the 
microscope, no two grains will be found exact 
counterparts of each other; and so throughout 
the infinity of nature in both the animal and veg- 
etable kingdoms, to mere superficial observation 
this would appear to be an impropriety of lan- 
guage. 

So in the life of a soldier, no two are alike ; the 
same endless variation presents itself in a thou- 
sand things and incidents, divergent in a thou- 
sand more. That same infinitude of diversity 
existing in all the realms of creation exists on the 
march, in camp, in battle, in wound and death. 
No two men ever saw the thousand details of a 
battlefield alike. General outlines are often ob- 
vious, details impossible in all their amplitude. 
This diversity relieves monotony of its weary 
strain. Continuity of the finest music that ever 
charmed the mind would drive one insane if 
long continued. The "harp of a thousand 
strings," the most exquisite mechanism the 
Creator ever constructed, requires that every 
key perform its normal functions in that infinite 
variety which sweeps over the brain. 

George W. McDowel is a Pennsylvanian by 
birth and education in early life. He came to 
Arkansas in early manhood, where association 
and contact with southern men and absorption 
of their political philosophy and construction 
of the covenants embodied in the organic com- 
pact of the fathers, converted him in his maturer 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 335 

years to a staunch Confederate and one of "the 
boys behind the guns." 

When that joyful, unique character, so full of 
pleasant and cherished memories to the writer, 
Captain Robert H.Crockett (afterwards colonel), 
was raising a company in Arkansas, McDowel 
was one of the first men in the state to stake his 
life on the fortunes of the Confederacy by en- 
rolling in Captain Crockett's company. First 
Arkansas infantry, with James H. Fagan as 
colonel (after Shiloh, general). It was the first 
Arkansas troops to go to the Old Dominion, 
where it was armed and equipped. There Cap- 
tain Crockett was commisioned as a colonel and 
ordered back to Arkansas to raise another regi- 
ment for the service, which he soon accomplished, 
and fought the regiment at Shiloh and many 
other bloody fields with distinguished gallantry. 

The First Arkansas infantry, under Colonel 
Fagan, did not tarry long in Virginia until it 
was ordered back to the west, where it fought its 
first great battle at Shiloh, April sixth and sev- 
enth, 1862. In the center of the line of battle, 
where no more desperate fighting was ever done 
on any battlefield of the world, McDowel was 
color bearer for his regiment, in the brigade of 
General Ruggles, R. L. Gibson colonel. 

On Sunday morning before sunrise the Fed- 
erals were taken completely by surprise in their 
tents some distance in front of their breastworks, 
to which they fled in the utmost confusion after 
the first fire of infantry came crashing through 
their tents. A very deplorable tragedy happened 
in the tents, the occupants being concealed when 
the heavy firing commenced. Two elegantly 



33^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

dressed ladies occupied one of these tents, in 
which they were found dead by the Confeder- 
ates, having been killed. 

Their morning repast was abandoned in their 
precipitate flight. If the presence of those ladies 
had been known, southern chivalry would have 
proved their talisman, and they would have been 
as secure from harm as if in a church at home. 
Every man of the Confederate army profoundly 
regretted their more than sorrowful taking off. 
Several soldiers sitting on their camp stools at 
their meals were found dead leaning back in 
their seats. 

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in Federal 
currency was abandoned by the Federal paymas- 
ters, and but very few stopped in the on rush and 
carnage of battle to pick it up. But one of Mc- 
Dowel's comrades could not resist the temptation 
to look out for a rainy day. He gathered up sixty 
thousand dollars, put it in his haversack and 
rushed on to his place in the advancing column. 
He preserved it through the war and it made his 
thrifty nature comfortable when desolation over- 
took the war worn veterans after the surrender. 
A few others gathered up a few thousand dur- 
ing the momentary pause at the tents, but the 
vast majority, in that storm and whirlwind of 
death, thought more of their cartridges and guns 
than money at that hour, and passed on in the 
wake of that volcano of death. 

The Federals rallied behind their parks of 
artillery and improvised breastworks, animated 
by sublime heroism after the rush of brigades 
and divisions came to their relief. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 337 

About 10 a. m. the battle raged in awful fury 
in the center of the line, where General Hind- 
man, with his division, was fighting and charging 
batteries with a heroism which will be admired 
as long as heroism challenges the admiration of 
mankind. 

From the enemy's strong park of field guns 
immediately in his front grape and canister 
crashed through his lines like a hailstorm. He 
led the head of his heroic column. Several 
horses were shot down under him. He was 
driven back until it became evident that with- 
out reinforcements he could not sustain the un- 
equal contest, and Colonel Fagan, of the First 
Arkansas regiment, with McDowel as regimental 
color bearer, was hurried at a double quick to his 
assistance, and finally a brigade came to the ban- 
quet of death. 

Superstition and presentiment often take pos- 
session of the common soldier on the battlefield, 
w^here noble pride is the most powerful factor in 
sustaining him in the face of death. 

Charge after charge had been made on that 
deadly park of artillery which was reaping a 
harvest of death. After two of these desperate 
charges had been repulsed, and whilst resting to 
prepare for the third charge, the ensign came to 
the color bearer, pulled out a small fiask of 
brandy and said to McDowel : 

"Mac, let us take together my last drink on 
earth. After the charge we are now going to 
repeat, I will never answer to another roll call.'' 

"Oh, no," said McDowel. "That is but a 
fantasy flitting through the brain of a brave 
soldier. You must dismiss it. You have just 



33^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

gone through two such charges unscathed, and in 
all probability fate will be as kind to you in the 
third charge." 

The ensign, William Lindsey, replied: 

^^You are kind in your effort to comfort me, 
but my conviction is deep and profound. I am 
perfectly reconciled to die the death of a soldier. 
Sacrifices must be made, and I will die at my post 
in the line as true to my country as the needle 
to the pole." 

In a few minutes after that the hastily re- 
formed line, without a missing man except the 
dead and wounded, was heroically led, like the 
Grecian phalanx and Roman legion, to the third 
charge, with the heroic Hindman again lead- 
ing it. In five minutes, when the earth was shak- 
ing under the tramp of that wall of iron nerve, 
the ensign fell dead with a ball through the cen- 
ter of his head. Brave Arkansian ! 

Captain John H. Thomas, of General John H. 
Morgan's command, relates a similar experience 
with one of his men. 

There were two brothers, side by side, when the 
command was lined up for a cavalry charge on 
the enemy. One of the brothers handed the other 
some souvenirs, mementoes to be given to his 
mother, and said : 

"Brother, my hour to die on the battlefield has 
come. Hand these or send them to our dear 
mother. I will be killed in this charge." 

Captain Thomas then urged him to go to the 
rear and drop out of the charge, and said: 

"I don't want to lose you. You have always 
been a true and tried soldier and have never 
avoided duty or danger." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 339 

"No, no," said the brave young hero. "It shall 
never be said that I abandoned a battlefield 
through fear of death. I would rather die a thou- 
sand times than incur such dishonor or tarnish 
the name of a Kentuckian." 

In a few minutes the charge was made and the 
brave boy was shot through the head, fell from 
his horse and died a painless death on the altar 
of his country. His name has escaped the mem- 
ory of his captain, but of him it may be said, as 
on the Confederate monument erected by the 
Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy to the 
unknown Confederate dead, in the cemetery at 
Winchester, Va. : 

*'We do not know who you are, 
But we know what you were." 

It is said that General Maney, of the Confed- 
erate army, on the morning the battle of Mur- 
freesboro opened, rode along his line, and said 
to his men : 

"If any of you have had bad dreams last night, 
step to the front. I believe in dreams and will 
relieve any who have had premonitions of their 
fate in today's battle." 

But none stepped forward. 

History records the almost universal preva- 
lence of belief in dreams in the Roman armies, 
during the twelve hundred years they were en- 
gaged in acting and consummating the greatest 
drama of ancient times. If a Roman general had 
unpropitious dreams he would never move his 
army until the foreboding passed away, and if his 
horse stumbled on the march he halted his army 



34° Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

until the augurs gave a propitious answer to his 
queries. 

To return from this digression to the third 
charge of Hindman's division, supported by two 
brigades of other commands. This charge was 
again repulsed. When falling back to reform 
again, private Hill, of McDonald's company, 
passed over the dead body of the ensign, stooped 
down and took off of the dead body a belt con- 
taining a pair of fine pistols, saying : 

"I need them. They can do the dead no good ; 
the living can use them." 

The line of battle for the fourth charge was 
again formed, made, and again repulsed. During 
this fourth charge, a ball cut the belt on Hill 
containing the ensign's pistols and the weapons 
fell to the ground. Hill refused to recover them, 
saying with superstitious awe : 

"It is clear to my mind that those pistols were 
not designed for me, and that I did wTong in 
taking them." 

And there he left them. 

A part of Breckenridge's reserved corps now 
came on the field to Hindman's assistance, and 
the fifth charge was made with a wild rebel yell, 
and they carried at last the guns which had piled 
up the brave Confederates. McDowel was shot 
down in this last charge, badly and dangerously 
wounded with a shattered thigh. 

After the Federals were routed and driven 
from the field they had so heroically defended, 
McDowel was put on a litter and carried to a 
hospital in the rear. On their way they crossed 
a slough of water waist deep. The bearers stum- 
bled and let the wounded man fall into the water, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 341 

where he came near drowning before rescued 
from that peril. He lay in the woods all the 
night of the sixth in terrible agony. 

Next morningj after the Federal army had 
been recruited with BuePs thirty thousand fresh 
troops, the battle was renewed and the Confed- 
erates in the wildest confusion and panic were 
driven from the field. And here comes into play 
another phase of a soldier's life nowhere else 
pointed out in this volume. 

As we have seen, McDowel was of northern 
birth, and, strange to say, he had the greatest 
horror of falling into the hands of his country- 
men, thinking they would regard him as a traitor 
and execute him if ever captured by them, be- 
cause of northern birth, an idea that perhaps 
would not occur to one in a hundred. He had 
been raised in the hotbed of anti-slavery and had 
heard much of its excesses in denunciation of the 
institution and those supporting it. His father 
was of that rabid hotbed abolition school, but 
the son never drank in that heresy; he took the 
opposite view. In the heat of passion his father 
told him he had better go south and live with 
the people he admired and defended. 

"I start tomorrow,'' he said; "and when the 
war you speak of comes I will be among the first 
to take up a soldier's gun to defend those who 
are defamed because they insist on an honest and 
faithful adherence to the covenants which alone 
made this Union possible." 

And he adhered to his unshaken resolution, 
settled down as a farmer in Prairie county, Ark- 
ansas, and when Crockett, grandson of the hero 
of the Alamo, raised a company he was among 



342 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the first to enroll in the first regiment of Arkan- 
sas troops. 

On Monday, when the rout and stampede at 
Shiloh came, he was on the ground with a pile 
of amputated legs and arms scattered over the 
ground around him. Transportation for the dis- 
abled was limited, and he was left lying there 
when the Federal army in its victorious career 
was forcing all who could move from the field. 
Dreading to fall into their hands, for reasons 
stated, he crawled toward the fleeing army, drag- 
ging his broken thigh with excruciating pain 
after him, hallooing at the top of his voice to 
heedless passers to help him to the rear, but none 
stopped to lend a helping hand. On the verge of 
death from the loss of blood, he gave up in de- 
spair. 

Finally one of the surgeons on General Bragg's 
staff, sitting in a fast passing ambulance, heard 
his piteous appeal, and with the aid of the driver 
lifted him in the vehicle and nursed him with 
tender care through repeated fainting spells, 
until they arrived at the Confederate hospital 
out of the tramp of the Federal army. When able 
to be transported he was sent to LaGrange, Ten- 
nessee, where he met the wife of Dr. Ewel, a sur- 
geon in the Confederate army — one of those min- 
istering angels in the decade of the sixties, whDse 
memories will forever shed radiance over the 
noblest and sweetest recollections of mankind. 
She carried him in her carriage to her own hos- 
pitable mansion. 

This good mother in Israel, like many thou- 
sands of devoted southern mothers and daugh- 
ters, made a hospital of her capacious home and 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 343 

devoted her entire attention to sick and wounded 
soldiers. Pronounced disabled for life by the 
surgeon, he was discharged, and when able to 
travel by railroad, vehicle or boat, went by way 
of Memphis to his home in Arkansas, where late 
in the fall of 1862, he concluded that he possibly 
could serve in a battery where he would be sta- 
tionary in a battle with artillery or ride on a 
caisson when moving. His heroic spirit revolted 
at the idea of remaining at home whilst he felt 
able to ram a cannon ball home. 

He went to Little Eock, hobbled around with 
the badly disabled limb, and with much difficulty 
and persuasion finally induced Captain Edward 
Edgar, of tbe artillery field service, to take him 
on trial as a member of his command, and was 
again sworn into the Confederate service and 
placed in Captain Hughes' battery. He followed 
this battery with Price's army throughout its 
campaigns after his second enlistment. 

When up Red river, in Louisiana, he relates an 
act of unusual heroism in one of the privates be- 
longing to the Second Louisiana cavalry. A de- 
tachment of the army to which both belonged 
was being hard pressed and was in precipitate 
retreat. This private was very unwell; had fre- 
quent fainting spells and was compelled as often 
to dismount and rest. When thus resting a Fed- 
eral officer rode up with two privates attending 
him and ordered the sick Confederate to surren- 
der, who, raising his gun as if to give it up, said, 
^'Surrender yourself!" and shot him dead. The 
attending privates wheeled and spurred back to 
their lines, and the brave Louisiana soldier, with 



344 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the Federal's horse and arms, caught up with the 
rear of the retreating Confederates. 

When Mac's battery was on the wing he would 
jump a caisson or cannon carriage and cling 
to it until it was unlimbered for action. On one 
occasion, in the emergency of a hasty removal, 
Mac was left to wobble along, like a misfit wheel 
on a gudgeon. He could barely walk. He was over- 
taken by General Pagan, who made one of the 
train drivers cut out a mule and help Mac on its 
bare back. When the battery limbered up for 
action Mas was at his gun. He is at the old Con- 
federate Home near Little Rock. On exception- 
ally good days he hobbles out on his crutch under 
the shade of the trees, awaiting the summons to 
join his comrades in the land where no more bat- 
tles w^ill be fought. 



THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. 



The author has spared no pains in the effort 
to arrive at facts touching this extraordinary 
battle. Whilst consulting official reports, he has 
given the weight of evidence to credible partici- 
pants in that battle. Such men who detail what 
they witnessed on the field are free from that 
bias which too often colors and mars the verity of 
official reports and influence erroneous impres- 
sions. In addition to this, official reports are 
unavoidably condensed and leave out details of 
fact and incident, often of great interest and 
value to history. 

There is with most commanders and subordi- 
nate officers an irresistible inclination to mini- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 345 

mize the achievements of their adversaries, con- 
trasted with the maximum of their own per- 
formances. When facts are hung upon such 
standards, erroneous impressions creep in to the 
exclusion of facts which enhance the value of 
history. This is but a generalization, applicable 
in greater or less degree to the whole landscape 
of war literature, and is not designed to throw 
discredit on those Confederate officers who won 
the first great battle west of the Mississippi river. 
Their reports are, to a great extent, generaliza- 
tions without that detail of fact and incident 
which fill up and bring out the background so 
necessary to the completion of any picture, either 
with pen or brush. 

The author has consulted General Churchill, 
John Nevill of the Third Arkansas infantry, and 
A. C. Richardson of the Third Texas cavalry, all 
of whom participated in that battle. Acting in 
concert the two latter have drawn a map giving 
the location of the Missouri troops under Gen- 
eral Price, and that of the Texas, Arkansas, and 
one regiment of Louisianians, on the night of the 
ninth of August, 1861, and morning of the tenth, 
when the battle opened with the attack 
of General Lyon in front and flank of 
the Missourians, commanded by Price, and 
on the flank and rear of the remainder of the 
forces under General McCulloch, who were at- 
tacked by Siegel'S division simultaneously with 
Lyon, whilst the Confederates were asleep in 
their tents, having no pickets out to prevent as 
great a surprise as any army in the history of 
war ever experienced. This is a very pregnant 



34^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

fact, for obvious reasons omitted in official re- 
ports. 

Oak Hill, or Wilson's Creek, where the battle 
was fought, is situated eight to ten miles south- 
west of Springfield, Missouri, in a rolling land- 
scape of hills, varying in height from fifty to 
seventy-five feet above the winding valley of Wil- 
son's creek, which is crossed near the center of 
the battlefield by the Springfield or Telegraph 
road, at an angle to the creek of about fifty de- 
grees. Undulating hills on either side of the 
creek extended down to the narrow valley sep- 
arating them, mostly covered with timber. 

In the "V" angle between the creek and road, 
there was a field of corn containing eight to ten 
acres, which became a slaughter pen for the 
United States regulars of the old army. One- 
half mile from this angle, we may say, in the op- 
posite angle to that above described, there was a 
stubble field from which small grain had been 
cut and removed. In this latter angle the heroic 
Colonel Churchill of the First regiment of Ark- 
ansas mounted rifles was encamped about one 
mile from the advanced position of the Missouri 
troops under General Price, who occupied the 
crest and slope of a hill sloping towards the posi- 
tion occupied by Colonel Churchill, who was af- 
terwards promoted to the rank of brigadier gen- 
eral, and then to that of major general, in which 
positions he won the honorable sobriquet of the 
"Old War Horse," and after the war was twice 
governor of Arkansas. 

The rear and flank of the colonel's position was 
skirted by timber, sloping to the adjacent hills. 
The Third regiment of Texas cavalry was en- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 347 

camped in the timbered slope of those hills in a 
westerly direction from Colonel Churchill's regi- 
ment. Across the valley of Wilson's Creek, just 
above the angle first described above, General 
Ben McCulloch, with the remainder of the Con- 
federate forces, exclusive of the Missouri troops, 
was encamped on the inner slope of the hills 
northeast of Colonel Churchill. 

Fortunately "Billy" Woodruff's battery of 
field guns was located on General McCulloch's 
right wing, nearest General Price's division, and 
in easy range of the crest of the hill from w^hich 
General Lyon drove the xMissourians, who were 
panic stricken at first when surprised and at- 
tacked just after daylight before they had gotten 
out of their tents on the morning of the tenth. 
Colonel Hebert's (pronounced Heber) regiment 
of Louisiana infantry, armed with the Missis- 
sippi bayonet rifle, was encamped near General 
McCulloch's headquarters on the crest and slope 
of the ridge. 

The effective force of the Confederates was 
five thousand three hundred infantry, fifteen 
pieces of artillery, and six thousand mounted 
men, most of whom dismounted and fought as 
infantry, with rifles, shotguns and old United 
States army muskets. In addition to this there 
were about tw^o thousand mounted Confederates, 
wholly without arms, who w^ere to the rear and, 
of course, not in the battle. The Confederates, 
by the courtesy of General Price, who com- 
manded the Missouri state troops, were placed 
under the command of General McCulloch. 

Major General Lyon and General Siegel com- 
manded the Federal troops, and had a force 



34^ Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

about equal to that of the Confederates. The 
Federals were armed with the best pattern of 
guns. The old shotgun has been much derided, 
but for close quarters, like much of the fighting 
was done on that day, they proved very effective. 
They carried one large ball and twelve buckshot 
in each barrel, and wounded many more than the 
rifle or musket, and killed more men. The re- 
spective armies had been skirmishing for several 
days, but General McCulloch had no idea of 
bringing on a general engagement until he 
reached Springfield. His army was taken by 
complete surprise, and attacked in front, rear 
and flank before his men had gotten out of their 
tents. 

General Price's division contained five thou- 
sand two hundred and twenty-one men. The at- 
tack was made simultaneously by General Lyon 
on the front and left flank of General Price, and 
by General Siegel on the right flank and rear. 
General McCulloch says in his report: "The 
enemy had gained the positions they desired." 
The fact is the Missourians, taken at such dis- 
advantage, ran down the slope of the ridge panic 
stricken as soon as the enemy's batteries opened 
on them, but fortunately Woodruff's battery of 
four guns opened vigorously on the enemy and 
checked his advance until the brave and heroic 
Missourians could reform, which they did, and 
no men ever contested a battlefield with more 
courage and obstinacy than they did, and the di- 
vision under General McCulloch did likewise. 
Tot ten's Federal battery was in advance. He 
had been stationed at Little Rock previous to the 
war and was well acquainted with Captain Wil- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 349 

liam Woodruff, his antagonist at this critical 
moment of the battle. Both captains heroically 
fought their batteries against each other for six 
hours and thirty minutes and they both deserve 
equal credit for their obstinate courage. Lieu- 
tenant Omer Weaver, of Woodruff's battery, was 
killed early in the action. His name is honored 
and revered for his manhood as a citizen and 
courage as a soldier. 

Whilst this engagement between Generals 
Price and Lyon was going on General McCul- 
loch was attending to General Siegel to his left 
and rear. So sudden was the attack on that part 
of the line that "The Old War Horse,'' Colonel 
Churcliill, mounted his horse bareback and soon 
rallied his brave riflemen in the timber, near the 
position of the Third Texas cavalry. The battle 
here was obstinate for near four hours before the 
Federals under Siegel were completely routed. 

How did it happen that the Confederates were 
taken by surprise, and how did it happen that 
both Generals Lyon and Siegel secured the posi- 
tions they desired — the best possible positions 
for the attack? Neither of these questions are 
answered or explained by any of the official re- 
ports of that battle, but both are of easy explana- 
tion. 

First, it was General McCulloch's plan to 
break camp at three a. m. on the tenth, next day, 
and march on and attack Springfield in four col- 
umns at daybreak. At midnight a heavy wind 
sprang up, accompanied by a slight shower of 
rain. The pickets had been called in before this, 
preparatory to getting ready to march at three 
a. m., but being without cartridge boxes to pro- 



35° Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

tect their scanty ammunition, the general con- 
cluded it best to defer marching at three a. m., 
and for some unexplained reason the picket line 
was not renewed, which rendered it easy for 
the Federals to surprise them. This omission 
has been verified to the writer's satisfaction by 
many soldiers who were in that battle, and the 
fact appears incontestible. 

As to the second question, how did it happen 
that the Federal generals knew the most advan- 
tageous points from which to attack and how to 
reach them before daylight on that dark windy 
night? This is explained by John Nevill and 
A. C. Richardson, who were hotly engaged in 
both Price's and McCulloch's divisions on that 
day, fighting first against Siegel's division, and 
after he was driven from the field, then against 
Lyon's division. Both of these gentlemen are 
high toned honorable men with unblemished 
records as soldiers. They inform the writer that, 
immediately after Siegel was driven from the 
field, a citizen of Confederate sympathies in- 
formed the Confederates that a citizen living 
very near the battlefield, of strong Union convic- 
tions, had informed the Federals of the positions 
held by the Confederates on the night of the 
ninth, and had piloted the Federals to their re- 
spective positions. On receipt of this informa- 
tion the Confederates went in haste to the trai- 
tor's house, but he and his family had vacated 
and left, with a warm dinner on the table. All 
the attendant circumstances powerfully corrob- 
orate this explanation. 

If General Lyon had had the most accurate lo- 
cation of the enemy's camp he could not have 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 351 

taken his respective positions with greater ac- 
curacy. But for obvious reasons these facts do 
not appear in official reports. General Churchill, 
in conversation with the writer, candidly admits 
the surprise. This "Old War Horse" of many 
hard fought battles has the best strain of heroic 
blood and citizenship pouring through his daunt- 
less heart. That the Confederates in winning one 
of the most complete victories of the war, after 
being surprised in front, rear and flank, and 
flushed like a covey of quail, is one of the most 
surprising and astonishing events of war, rarely 
if ever paralleled by veterans, much less raw sol- 
diers, but few of whom had ever before been 
under fire. 

A brave old Dutchman who fought "mit 
Seigel" in one of the batteries was working one 
gun of the battery of five, stationed some dis- 
tance in front of the other four guns. The Ar- 
kansas troops charged those guns like a whirl- 
wind and took them, but left the old Dutchman 
with the front gun. After capturing the four 
guns they returned and found the wheels of the 
carriage on which the gun rested cut all to pieces, 
thus completely disabling it for that day. 

"What did you do that for, sir, after it was 
captured and taken," asked an officer. 

The old hero responded : 

"By tam, vot you lef him here mit me, ven you 
nose I fights mit Siekel? You say, vot for me 
cut him. Dat is von vhoolish question. Vot for 
you tink I'm here mit Siekel for?" 

Brave old Dutchman — he did his duty. 

In the meantime Price was being very hard 
pressed. McCulloch sent Colonel Hebert, with 



352 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

his nine hundred Mississippi rifles, and Colonel 
Mcintosh, with his shotguns and rifles, to take 
position on the outer lines of the angle ^'V" first 
above described, one regiment on each stem of 
the ''V,'' where a thick growth of corn stood in the 
open field. A regiment of Federal regulars of 
the old army came marching and charging 
through this cornfield. Both Hebert's and Mc- 
intosh's regiments lay flat on the ground and 
poked the muzzles of their guns through the fence 
cracks, with orders to reserve their fire until 
the enemy came within fifty yards. Thus en- 
closed in the angle of this field, with front and 
both flanks exposed to the terrible fire at close 
range, was more than the oldest veterans could 
stand. 

The much abused old shotgun, with thirty balls 
in each, got in terrible work and the enemy re- 
coiled in the wildest confusion, followed by the 
Confederates, T\'hose unerring aim and dealy fire 
made that angle a slaughter pen. The old Texas 
ranger never made a better disposition of men. 
The capture of Siegel's battery was the turning 
point with him. By 10 :30 a. m. Siegel was non 
est inventos — his division was scattered like a 
covey of quail, every man fleeing for himself. 
But few went to the assistance of General Lyon. 
Whilst all this was transpiring Price and Lyon, 
both fighting their men heroically, were each 
doubtful of the result, and each looked for suc- 
cor from the other divisions, where heavy firing 
ceased about 10:30 a. m., each of those heroic 
commanders hoping that success had been 
achieved by their respective arms, and that the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 353 

victors on that field would march to their assist- 
ance. 

Whilst this desperately fought battle was 
in progress at Bloody Point, in the center of 
Lyon's line, Billy Woodruff kept Captain Totten 
in hot water, so he could not turn to operate on 
other portions of the field. These two batteries, 
with varying success, kept up a constant duel for 
six hours. CarrolFs regiment of Arkansans and 
Greer's regiment of Texans gallantly charged 
Totten's battery, but were unable to hold it. 
They wxre driven back by a large force of infan- 
try supporting it, who were concealed behind the 
crest of the ridge. To escape that deadly and 
accurate range of Totten's guns Woodruff very 
early in the action moved his battery to a more 
advantageous position, and around each of those 
duelling batteries it has been said, in language 
more forcible than elegant, that "hell roared." 
The brave "Billy" Woodruff and all of his men 
stood their ground for six hours, midst a storm 
of shell and canister. 

The commanders at the critical moment were 
agonized like Wellington and Napoleon at Wat- 
erloo, one praying for the arrival of Blucher, 
the other for the arrival of Grouchy. So it was 
with McCulloch and Lyon. When the firing 
ceased on Seigel's line, both generals hoped that 
their respective divisions had been victorious and 
would soon come to their relief. At this critical 
and decisive moment the regiments of Colonels 
Churchill and Mcintosh came like a whirlwind 
to Bloody Point. At the same time two regi- 
ments of General Pierce's brigade, which had 
been held in reserve, were called into action. 



354 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Totten's battery was then compelled to fall back 
from the position it had so long and so bravely 
held. 

This was at 11:30 a. m. At the same time 
Colonel Greer's Texas cavalry and several com- 
panies of Arkansas cavalry charged like a whirl- 
wind over a Federal battery and infantry sup- 
porting it, and wheeled and charged over them 
again. General Lyon at this critical and decisive 
moment was seen trying to rally and encourage 
his men with the energy born of heroic despair. 
Soon he was seen dismounted at the head of his 
heroic columns. Whether his horse was shot 
from under him, or he purposely dismounted is 
not known. In a few minutes after this he was 
killed and fell where the dead and wounded were 
thickest on the summit of "Bloody Point," cov- 
ered with a fame for generalship and heroism 
which now fills one of the brightest pages of his- 
tory. Had he lived long he would have attained 
greater distinction. 

The Federals broke in wild confusion over the 
hills toward Springfield, leaving their dead and 
wounded on the field. The body of General Lyon 
was taken to General McOulloch's headquarters 
and cared for with the respect due his rank. Next 
day a flag of truce headed by a few soldiers 
who asked for and received his body. In this 
brief volume space does not permit a full descrip- 
tion of the heroic action of the Missouri brigades 
under Generals Parsons, Clarke, Pierce, McBride 
and Kains. Suffice it to record the fact that each 
filled the full measure of their heroic duty on 
that bloody field. 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 355 

The Confederate loss was two hundred and 
sixty-five killed and eight hundred wounded. The 
Federal loss was five hundred killed and one 
thousand wounded, so reported by General Mc- 
Culloch, the Federal dead and wounded being 
left on the field. George Hallum, the writer's 
uncle, an old grayheaded man, was severely 
wounded in that battle ; the writer's father, Blu- 
ford Hallum, still older than his brother George, 
was a soldier in General Bragg's army, and all 
his boys able to bear arms were in the Confed- 
erate army. 

An old veteran of former wars, who stood by 
John Nevill when he saw the very great disad- 
vantage the Confederates labored under when 
surprised at the commencement, said: 

"Nevill, we are attacked in front, rear and 
flank, and are badly whipped." 

Nevill, the Irish boy, said : 

"I don't see it, and don't expect to see it; we 
have all got our guns and can load and shoot as 
well and fast as the yankees, and I know we are 
as brave as they are; give us a rest on that, old 
veteran." 

General McCulloch told his men on dress pa- 
rade after the battle: 

"If my men had all been old veterans we 
would have been badly routed. The Texans, Lou- 
isianians and Arkansans don't know when they 
are whipped." 



35^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE. 



After the battle Nevill went down to the creek 
for water and there witnessed one of the most 
distressing scenes he ever saw on any battlefield. 

A great number of wounded, both Federal and 
Confederate, had crawled down to the creek for 
water, where many died, and others could go no 
farther. There ^'the blue and the gray" were in- 
discriminately crowded at that pool of Siloam 
where neither could longer mingle in the fray of 
battle. The stream w^as red with blood. After 
that scene Nevill concluded to go among the Fed- 
eral dead and pick up better arms than those 
with which he had fought in the battle. 

The field was covered with dead and wounded. 
If he had chosen he could have stepped from one 
body to another for two hundred yards at Bloody 
Point. Many w^ere dead ; many more were writh- 
ing and groaning in agony. A little further 
along he observed a stout body lying on its face 
with outstretched arms in the middle of the 
road, motionless and dead to every appearance. 
Passing around in front of the body he saw a 
fine pistol and good gun, which he concluded to 
appropriate, but at that instant a limb which had 
been cut by a shell or cannon ball fell, and he 
looked up in the branches and foliage to survey 
the extent of injury cannon had done to the 
forest. 

Then he cast his eye to the ground at the sup- 
posed dead body. He found it a very live man 
in the act of making ready to shoot him. In an 
instant more the supposed dead would have shot 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 357 

the living. Throwing his pistol in his face, in 
an instant he made the would be corpse drop the 
gun and get up. 

"Where are you wounded?" said Nevill. 

"Nowhere," he said. 

"What were you going to shoot me for?" asked 
Nevill. 

"Simply because I have been warned not to 
look for quarters. I did not expect any, and 
wanted you to show as a trophy in the next 
world." 

He was marched to the bull pen. 

A. C. Richardson tells of William Hamby, an 
old Texas ranger, who took his little, delicate, 
pale faced son, John, in the army with him and 
enrolled him in the Third Texas cavalry. 

When the regiment was filing up in double 
column to charge that day, little John sat his 
horse with his gun to ride in that charge beside 
his "papa." A moment before the column 
started at full speed a piece of exploded shell 
struck little John's gun, shattered the stock and 
knocked it out of his hand without injuring the 
boy or his horse. Little John said : 

"Look there, papa ; they have ruined my gun." 

The old pater familias said : 

"Never mind, son; after this battle is over we 
can gather up a wagon load of better guns, and 
you shall have as manj' guns as you want." 

In a minute more the bugle sounded the charge 
and father and son rode side by side in the front 
rank of the charging column. Shattering the 
ranks of the enemy they drew up, reformed and 
charged back through the disorganized enemy. 



35^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

When they drew up after charging back little 
John said : 

"Papa, I rode square over one of those big 
Dutchmen, and my horse knocked him thirty 
feet, and I'll bet his neck is broken ; and I'll bet 
a dollar I killed another with my pistol. I drew 
a bead on him and fired, and he fell." 

And the little soldier laughingly continued : 

"You and ma said I was too little for a sol- 
dier, and ma cried when you let me come to the 
war. I reckon you see what I can do now." 

Johnnie grew to be much stouter before the 
war closed, and Texas never sent a braver soldier 
to the field. 

His father afterwards died in the hospital at 
Corinth, Miss. 

The report was then current in the Confed- 
erate army that each Dutchman of SiegeFs com- 
mand carried a rope in his haversack to hang 
Governor Claib Jackson with. 

Nevill, then a rollicking Irish boy, had some 
curiosity to investigate that report. The first 
Dutchman he came up with or picked out of the 
gang who fought "mit Siekel" at Oak Hill pre- 
sented that opportunity. He went to the bull 
pen and called out one of SiegeFs Dutchmen, 
who s|)oke broken English, and asked him if they 
had hung Claib Jackson yet, and he said : 

"Noh! You see MacKoola coomes mit his en- 
shines (Indians) and he makes throuble mit 
Siegel un he has no time to catch Shackson, an' 
Shackson he make throuble, too, an' he go mit 
Price an' he makes heap throuble, too; all ish 
throuble ; notings but throubles." 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 359 

"Well, where is General Siegel?" asked John. 

"Veil, I don knows ; I see him runs today mit 
race hoss. I don't dinks he dinks bout hanging 
Shaekson ; he too much hurry to dinks bout any- 
tings but Siegel. He runs so fas I dinks he be in 
St. Louis fore day brake, an' if he dont sheks up 
I dinks he be in the old kuntry nex weeks. Ven 
he vants Germans to coodi mit him to de war, he 
say: *Boys, I leads you; I go fust; you follows 
me ;' an todays he gits von big scare, an von great 
run de oder vay, an he does go fast, an he haves 
no times to tells his mens to coome too. Dat's de 
vay Siegel hangs Shaekson.'' 



MUSTER ROLL OR ROLL OP HONOR OF 
THE BLUFF CITY GRAYS. 



This celebrated company was organized in 
Memphis from the elite of her youth, the average 
age being under tw^enty years, and none over 
twenty-three. 

Jas. H. Edmondson^ D. \Y. Allen^ 

J. R. J. Creighton^ J. M. Anderson^ 

Thos. F. Pattison^ T. B. Alderson^ 

Lawrence Spicer^ Fred W. Anderson^ 

W. J. P. DoYLE^ S. M. Alexander, 

Jas. C. McClain^ A. M. Bunch, 

Chas. Sherwin, R. M. Butler, 

Phil. T. Allen, H. Buthenberg, 

John H. Mitchell^ R. S. Bowles, 

M. R. Marshall, Walter H. Bailey^ 

R. H. Flournoy, H. Burdett, 

Robert G. Eyrich^ Geo. T. Bassett, 



360 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 



Thos. F. Bailey^ 
F. R. Brunson^ 
Isaac Bledsoe, 
W. F. Campbell, 

D. W. Collier, 
Nicholas Cuney, 
W. H. Clark, 

J. F. Conrad, 
Geo. W. Cook, 
J. B. Drake, 
Thos. Devreux, 
Geo. Dashiell, 

E. W. D. Dunn, 
R. T. Dunn, 
David B. Davis, 
Chas. B. Davis, 
John D. Evans, 
John H. Fisher, 
Geo. a. Falls, 
J. A. Falls, 
Jas. H. Farr, 
W. P. Flowers, 
Sanc Flowers, 
J. W. Grice, 
John R. Giles, 
Lev. D. Grant, 
Fergus Hall, 

J. W. Hamilton, 
Robert B. Hays, 
Wm. Houston, 
Wm. C. Haskell, 
Geo. W. Jones, 
R. C. Jones, 
Jas. Southerland, 
John C. Southerland, 



Thos. Jukes, 
H. R. White, 
Jos. H. Craft, 
W. R. Johnson, 
J. C. Shipley, 
Thos. R. Dillon, 
Max Kuhn, 

COURTLAND STARR, 

Wm. Pattison, 
J. V. Little, 
Chas. Stout, 
John Stokes, 
A. F. Lake, 
E. H. Stebbins, 
Geo. W. Whitfield, 
P. J. Mallon, 
A. L. Smith, 
Jas. Rodgers, 
Jas. M. Maury, 
Jas. T. Titus, 
Baker Springfield, 
Geo. E. Morrison, 
RoBT. D. Walker, 
J. Jack Wilson, 

D. A. MCMURRAY, 

C. C. Wolf, 

W. A. Cromwell, 

Jno. F. McKinney, 

Fred Wehrle, 

John Cromwell, 

John Neil, 

C. L. Williamson, 

John W. Pettit, 

John A. Powel, 

John E. Eanes, 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 361 

Benj. Powel, John Greer, 

E. A. Edmondson, J. S. Rawlings, 

Wm. H. Park, J. T. Eastbrook, 

Wash. T. Nicholson, J. W. Spioer, 

Geo. T. Plummer, John Overton, 

David H. Poston, Robt. Spicer, 

O. G. Pattison, Jas. B. Poston, 

Jas. T. Thompson, John E. Spicer, 

John Russell, Hardin Perkins, 

AVm. Wilkins, Geo. L. Saffrans, 

W. H. Roy, W. H. Humes, 

Chas. W. Wilkins, Thos. W. Stratton, 

Adam Rennick, 0. A. Harris, 

Emmett Woodward, D. M. Stewart, 

S. H. Rawlings, Nelson T. White. 

Many were killed in battle ; many died of sick- 
ness and wounds. Twenty were transferred to 
other companies to act as officers. 

The company was recruited w^ith many young 
men as its ranks was thinned. The names of the 
recruits do not appear in this roster. Marshals 
Ney, Murat or Kellerman in Napoleon's wars 
never commanded braver men. Their names and 
deeds is a heritage to the state, their families 
and country. 

James H. Edmondson was elected captain, and 
at the reorganization of the regiment was elected 
colonel. Christ Sherwin, first lieutenant. John 
R. J. Creighton, second lieutenant; promoted to 
captain; killed at Murfreesboro, leading his 
company as sharpshooters, December 31, 1862. 
Phil T. Allen, brevet second lieutenant. Thomas 
F. Pattison, sergeant ; promoted captain and suc- 
ceeded by the ever vigilant and effective Nicholas 



3^3 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Cuney, who kept the records of the company full 
and complete, Avith date and place of all the bat- 
tles and skirmishes; was never on furlough and 
was at the surrender in Alabama with General 
Forrest. The writer is indebted to him for this 
roster. He is of French blood and was as patri- 
otic and brave as any soldier in the Confederate 
army. Their first colonel was Preston Smith, af- 
terwards promoted for courage at the battle of 
Shiloh to a brigadier commission, and was killed 
at the battle of Chickamauga September 20, 1863. 
After the battle of Murfreesboro the company 
was transferred to General Forrest's command 
under very peculiar and exasperating circum- 
stances to General Smith, from whom they were 
taken, very much against his will and vehement 
protest. Both Smith and Forrest were from 
Memphis, and each were personally acquainted 
with nearly every member of the company before 
they enrolled in the army. General Forrest 
w^anted them because they had such a splendid 
record as heroes, without exception, and General 
Smith loved them for the same cause. General 
Forrest had made previous efforts to have the 
company transferred to his command, without 
success, and General Smith felt that he had 
checkmated that effort and was astonished and 
indignant when the order for the transfer came. 
Both generals had established a splendid record 
for dauntless courage and had long been warm 
personal friends. General Forrest had offered 
General Smith several companies in exchange for 
the Bluff City Grays, but was refused. Finally 
when the order for the transfer came. General 
Forrest rode up when it was presented. General 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 363 

Smith boiled over in a volcano of rage and abused 
General Forrest, who sat on his horse trying to 
appease the rage he had caused, and said : 

^'Preston, the Bluff City Grays can accomplish 
much more for our country in my arm of the 
service than they can with you, and we ought to 
let that be the leading consideration with both 
of us.-' 

General Smith did not feel the force of the ob- 
servation nor respond to it, but said : 

"Bedford, if ever I hear of you mistreating one 
of these men I will follow you up and kill you. 
They are as dear to me as my children, and you 
have done nothing more nor less than rob me.'' 

Whilst General Forrest was possessed of fear- 
less and iron courage, he knew that General 
Smith was woof and warp of the same fibre, and 
that to add the least fuel to his rage would have 
been productive of disastrous results, at least to 
one of them, and he felt that Preston, as all of 
his old friends called him, had the better of the ar- 
gument, and wheeled his horse and rode off leav- 
ing General Smith in tears. No higher commend- 
ation could have been paid the Bluff City Grays, 
who were to each of those great men as the Im- 
perial Guard was to Napoleon. They were in 
forty battles. As infantry under General Smith 
they fought in the battles of Belmont, Mo., Rich- 
mond, Ky., Perryville, Ky., Murfreesboro and 
Shiloh; the remainder under General Forrest, 
the Warwick of the revolution. They donned the 
toga virilis of Roman youth at the beginning 
of the war, wore it to the end untarnished, and 
covered it with the laurel crown of heroic and 
patriotic achievement. The remnant of that 



364 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

spartan band stacked arms and furled their ban- 
ner under General Forrest at Gainesville, Ala., 
May 9, 1865. Present at the surrender. Captain 
Thomas F. Pattison, Sergeant Nicholas Ouney 
and twenty-six others — twenty-eight in all. 
Others were on detailed service. 

But now we deal with the recollections of Gra- 
ham, as given by him to the author, together with 
the incidents connected with the transfer of the 
company. 

At Shiloh, April 6, 1862, an hour before sunset, 
the company was on the left of the Confederate 
line on the steep bluffs of the Tennessee river, 
beneath which the Federals had clustered 
in the wildest confusion. General Leon- 
idas Polk's corps were slaughtering them in 
great numbers; they were hurrying to transports 
and gunboats for protection without returning 
the fire of the Confederates. The bluff of the 
river was one hundred feet above the water 
level, which completely protected the Confeder- 
ates from the fire from the gunboats. The guns 
from these boats had been elevated at an angle 
of forty-five degrees, which threw ball and shell 
two miles to the rear without doing damage to 
the Confederate army. The writer's brother, 
Henry Hallum, was in that victorious Confeder- 
ate line on the bluffs. The old heroic General 
Frank Cheatham was in command of a division 
then and there, and near him stood James H. 
Graham with his comrades of the Bluff City 
Grays. Graham says that at that victorious mo- 
ment General Polk, commander of the first corps, 
rode up to General Cheatham and said: 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 365 

"It is the order of General Beauregard that 
you cease firing and retire to the rear.'' 

To which General Cheatham replied : 

"Great God! is that possible in the hour of 
victory so complete and disastrous to the enemy 
which is now completely at our disposal." 

General Grant could not possibly have given 
an order to the Confederate army more beneficial 
to his own. 

It enabled General Buel to reach and reinforce 
the enemy with a corps of thirty thousand fresh 
troops whilst the Confederates were sleeping in 
their tents. 

It is said that "everlasting things often hang 
on slender threads." 

But for that fatal mistake of General Beaure- 
gard General Grant would never have been com- 
mander in chief, nor president of the United 
States. 

That mistake will cause a feeling of regret as 
long as the history of the Confederate arms is 
read. 

That order to fall back was the Federal dox- 
ology of death, retreat and defeat for the Con- 
federates the next day, April 7, 1862. General 
Polk in his lucid report makes all this as clear as 
crystal. 

If General Albert Sidney Johnston, the peer- 
less commander in chief, had lived to command 
to the end of that day the drama of war would 
have glorified Confederate arms. 

General Johnston's design was to attack and 
defeat General Grant before General Buel's corps 
of thirty thousand men could reach and rein- 
force him. Some writers, under the impulse of 



366 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

warm sympathy and admiration for General 
Beauregard, endeavor to minimize and palliate the 
force of that mistake, but sympathy and admira- 
tion ought not supplant pivotal facts in history. 
Good judgment and celerity in the management 
and movement of armies on the field of battle is 
often worth more than Roman legions. What 
would a court of inquiry have done under Bona- 
parte, Cromwell, the Duke of Marlborough, 
Caesar, Alexander, Hannibal, Scipio, or other 
great generals, ancient or modern? 



FIRST LIEUTENANT JOHN HOFFMAN. 



Hoffman won his spurs as lieutenant for his 
conspicuous gallantry at Pea Ridge, and on the 
reorganization of the Fourteenth Arkansas in- 
fantry east of the Mississippi river was made first 
lieutenant. 

On the eighteenth of September, 1862, General 
Sterling Price, with little opposition, captured 
luka at the breakfast hour in the morning. The 
Federals fled precipitately, leaving their morning 
meal smoking on their tables, and three hundred 
negro women who served the camp and tables. 
These negro women were trembling with alarm. 
With the assistance of detailed Federal soldiers 
they had raided the residences of their former 
masters and mistresses, and each one of these 
contraband women had a large fine feather bed, 
with choice bed clothing, and many other house- 
hold articles arranged in and around the Federal 
soldiers' tents. These slaves thought the day of 
judgment had come, but not one of them was 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 3^7 

harmed. They were not responsible for the con- 
ditions which confronted them. The Federals 
were heavily reinforced that night and at noon 
on the nineteenth returned and attacked the Con- 
federates under General Price in one of the 
bloodiest battles ever fought in any age or quar- 
ter of the globe. Both Kichardson and Hoffman 
were at first in the division commanded by Gen- 
eral Little, of Missouri, who was shot through the 
head in the early stage of the battle, whilst sit- 
ting on his horse talking to General Price. In a 
few minutes after the death of General Little 
General Hebert (Heber) took command of the 
division. 

The companies and regiments were very much 
depleted by deaths in battle, wounds and disease 
— mere skeletons compared to their original 
strength. A coincidence worthy of note and of 
interest to those who believe in a special provi- 
dence occurred the morning before the battle 
which culminated on the first fire from the en- 
emy. Sam McMaster, orderly sergeant to Lieu- 
tenant Hoffman's company, was a high tempered 
- Scotchman, and for irregularity in his report 
that morning was reprimanded by Hoffman, to 
which he vehemently replied: 

^^I wish I may be shot through the heart at 
the first fire today." 

And at the first fire a minnie ball tore through 
his breast and he died instantly. 

Both armies fought with equal courage and 
desperation, the Federals under command of 
that able general, Eosecrans. Both armies 
charged toward each other with equal courage at 
the same time. When within fifty yards of each 



368 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

other they halted simultaneously and stood at 
that distance, and sometimes nearer, and poured 
volley after volley into their respective ranks for 
half an hour. Soon the smoke obscured the com- 
batants so they could not see each other, nor tell 
their respective positions, only by the rattle of 
small arms and the flash of fire from the guns. 
Hoffman says the slaughter was the most hor- 
rible he ever witnessed of the many battles he 
was in before and after that. In the space of 
fifty yards after the Federals retreated, and 
when the smoke cleared away, he saw the dead 
and dying of both combatants in places, piled 
three deep on each other. Richardson, of the 
Third Texas cavalry, then fighting as infantry on 
another part of the line, Avas engaged in an 
equally desperate conflict. The Federals in front 
of this part of the line had a battery of nine 
splendid Napoleon guns discharging with great 
rapidity shell, grape and shrapnel, with terrible 
effect on the Confederates. This battery was 
splendidly officered and manned, and was very 
strongly supported by infantry a few rods to the 
rear. To charge and take this battery under such 
conditions was no ordinary undertaking, no ordi- 
nary martial achievement, and work for none 
but the bravest of the brave. The Confederates 
under the awful fire charged up to the can- 
non's mouth three times and were driven back 
with fearful carnage. They reformed under this 
fearful fire with a small reinforcement and 
charged the battery and infantry the fourth time, 
captured the battery and drove its support flying 
to the rear. The commander of one of the sec- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 369 

tions of this splendid battery stood Ms ground 
after his comrades had fled. 

At that instant First Lieutenant Daniel Alley, 
of Company G, Third Texas cavalry, said: 

"Boys, we have got the guns at last," and put 
his hands on one of them to mount it in triumph. 
At that instant the Federal lieutenant drew his 
revolver and fired at Lieutenant Alley, shatter- 
ing his right hand. This was wholly unexpected 
and unwarranted. He was instantly killed for 
the act of deception and treachery. 

A Federal sergeant in charge of the other sec- 
tion of this formidable battery laid his hand on 
one of his guns and said : 

"I am compelled to surrender, but I love these 
guns as I love my life, and I will stay with 
them." 

Hoffman's company went into action with thir- 
ty-five men and came out with fourteen. Rich- 
ardson's company went into action with forty 
men and came out with seventeen. This per- 
centage shows the awful slaughter of the bravest 
of the brave. The slaughter around the battery 
and a few rods to the rear was simply awful ; the 
ground was literally covered with dead and dy- 
ing and blood ran in rivulets, and the ground 
over which the Confederates charged so often 
was strewn with dead and dying of both sides 
lying on top of each other. The battle lasted 
from noon until dark. 

General H. P. Mabry, whilst leading his bri- 
gade in the charges on the battery of Napoleon 
guns, had his foot badly shattered, but refused to 
leave the brigade. He threw the wounded limb 
across the horn of his saddle, rode up and down 



370 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

the lines after their repulse, cheering and rally- 
ing his men for another charge. After another 
charge and repulse his horse was killed under 
him; he called for another horse, but none was 
to be had; he could not walk; in attempting to 
do so he fell under the severe pain and fainted, 
and not until then was he taken off the field to 
the hospital on a stretcher. He is the Captain 
Mabry who, with Captain Johnson, had such a 
desperate fight inside the Federal lines and in 
vicAV of General Fremont's headquarters at 
Springfield, Missouri, related in a former chap- 
ter. He felt that if recognized he would be 
treated as a spy. In the hospital he threw off his 
worn uniform as a general and donned the rai- 
ment of a private soldier. He was captured next 
day and paroled as a private soldier. The strat- 
egy saved him a trip to Johnson's Island. 

The Confederates slept on their arms that 
night amidst the horrible scenes of carnage 
around them. 

General Rosecrans, the able Federal com- 
mander, during the night of the twentieth re- 
ceived large reinforcements of fresh troops, which 
compelled General Price to retire from the vic- 
torious field of the nineteenth with his shattered 
brigades and divisions and to cover his retreat 
against overwhelming numbers, which he did in 
a masterly manner. 

In the meantime Major General Van Dorn had 
been assigned to the command of the department 
and was approaching to form a junction with 
General Price for the purpose of attacking the 
strongly fortified Federal works at Corinth, 
Mississippi, which he did in the desperately 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, 371 

fought battles of the third and fourth of October, 
1862. 

General Price says of that battle: 
"The history of the war will contain no blood- 
ier page than that which records this fiercely 
contested battle. The strongest expressions fall 
short of my admiration of the gallant conduct of 
the officers and men under my command. Words 
can not add lustre to the fame they have acquired 
through deeds of noble daring which will live 
through future time. The long list of the gallant 
dead carries sorrow to the homes of those we 
are fighting for. A nation mourns their loss, 
whilst it cherishes the story of their gallant 
death in this mighty struggle for liberty." 

The Confederates charged over almost insuper- 
erable difficulties to get to breastworks frowning 
with cannon; they struggled through forests of 
fallen trees, reached, captured fortifications, and 
drove the Federals back a distance of three miles 
into the town of Corinth. Here they fought from 
street to street and house to house, and were so 
far victorious, but again large reinforcements of 
fresh troops of the Federal army came and the 
Confederates were forced again, as at luka 
twelve days before, to retire. 

General Van Dorn, because of defeat in this 
battle, was superseded and placed in his proper 
place — command of cavalry — where he served 
with distinction until he was killed at Spring 
Hill, Tennessee, May 8, 1863, by a private citizen 
for alleged cause involving domestic relations. 
When he died. General Granger, of the Federal 
army, said: 



372 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

"The Confederacy has lost a great cavalry com- 
mander." 

After the battle of Corinth the army was 
again reorganized and the celebrated Third 
Texas cavalry was again remounted and placed 
in that justly celebrated brigade of Jexas cav- 
alry commanded by Brigadier General L. S. Eoss 
until the end of the war. He was commissioned 
as brigadier at twenty-one years of age after the 
battle of Corinth, and no commission was ever 
more worthily bestowed on a young man or hon- 
ored with a braver man. He was as cool and 
self possessed in action as when on dress parade. 
For reasons stated elsewhere the command of 
General Ross became much prejudiced against 
General Forrest. 



DARE-DEVIL COURAGE. 



In the fall of 1864, about forty miles west of 
Newbern, North Carolina, a small brigade of 
Confederates, including Colonel Claiborne's regi- 
ment, were engaged in a hot battle, for the num- 
bers engaged, and were repeatedly driven back 
to new positions, where they would reform and 
give battle again. During one of these retreats 
one of Colonel Claiborne's men lost his canteen, 
the strap which held it being cut by a ball from 
the enemy about one hundred yards to the rear 
of the position where the brigade reformed to 
give battle again. 

This loss of the canteen fell to the lot of a 
native of Georgia, whose name has escaped the 
memory of Captain Louder, who was in the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 373 

same regiment and witnessed the scene here re- 
lated. The combatants at the time here related 
were facing each other with but two hundred, 
yards of intervening space. To the utter aston- 
ishment of his comrades the Georgian an- 
nounced his intention to go back between the 
lines and recover his canteen. His comrades 
protested and told him it would involve his 
certain death. ^'No, no," he said; "I can out- 
general them, get my canteen and return to the 
lines." He was noted for shrewdness and cour- 
age, and adopted a remarkable ruse to prevent 
the enemy from firing on him when he ap- 
proached their line of battle, which was in plain 
view. He stepped out a few rods in front, held 
his gun high up in his right hand, then dropped 
it and started on a run to the Federal line, turn- 
ing his face two or three times to his comrades, 
as though he was fearful they would shoot him 
for desertion. The Federals ceased firing in his 
direction, believing he was coming to them as 
a deserter. They waved their hands and cheered 
him lustily. When he reached his canteen he 
picked it up, wheeled and ran back like a quar- 
ter horse to his command in safety. The Fed- 
erals opened fire on him, and the recovery of the 
canteen was at an awful sacrifice, for while he 
escaped the enemy's fire cut down five of his 
comrades. 

HEROIC AND PATHETIC INCIDENTS AT 
BATTLE OF HARRISBURGH, MISS. 



It is not designed to describe this sanguinary 
battle, which took place July 13, 1864. That 



374 Reminiscences of the iJivil War. 

has already been very ably done by Dr. Jokn 
Allan Wyeth in his fascinating "Life of General 
Forrest/^ in a very lucid manner that will never 
be surpassed. Generals Forrest and Stephen D. 
Lee commanded the Confederates, and Generals 
A. I. Smith and Mowen the Federals. 

George B. Korabach, of Company A, First 
Louisiana heavy artillery, was in that battle 
fighting as infantry, and he tells the following 
heroic and pathetic story: 

Rorabach, the sturdy German, stood by little 
John Murphy, a very young, slender Irish lad of 
sixteen years, who was perhaps as bold, adven- 
turous and devoid of fear as any sodier ever 
was on a battle field. With others they were 
deployed as sharpshooters in an old abandoned 
field, which sloped down to a ravine covered 
with undergrowth, where the Federal sharp- 
shooters were protected in a very advantageous 
position, whilst the Confederates were in the 
open field within fifty yards with no protection 
but a few old stumps and logs. Rorabach lay 
down at the end of an old fallen tree and urged 
the little Irish boy to take shelter behind a small 
old stump which extended above his head, but 
the little slender dare-devil refused any protec- 
tion whatever. Murphy and a youth of about 
the same age in the Federal line became en- 
gaged in a duel, which attracted the attention 
of both lines, and, as if by common consent, both 
sides seemed agreed to let this pair of brave lads 
have it out to the finish without interference. 
The lad of Erin, when loading his gun placed 
it immediately in front of his person. When in 
that position a ball from his adversary struck 



Beminiscences of the Civil War. 375 

the center of the gun barrel and made an inden- 
tation beyond which he could not press the ball 
when loading. He was biting off the end of 
his cartridge when that misfortune happened, 
and did not discover the injury to his gun until 
he attempted to ram the bullet home. 

Throwing the gun down Murphy said, "Hold 
on, you have ruined my gun. I'll go back and 
get another and open up at the same stand 
again," and off he sped like a deer to the rear, 
but the whole Federal line opened up on him as 
he passed to the rear, and thus at least violated 
the implied understanding that the boys were 
not to be molested in this duel. But he was not 
hit, and came back at full speed to the position 
he had left with another gun and found his gal- 
lant adversary in position. He fired and saw 
the dirt fly from the Federal's coat and hal- 
looed out, "How do you like that?" To which 
his adversarv responded, "You peeled off some 
skin, but that don't count." Rorabach again 
urged him to get behind the stump as the Fed- 
eral had the advantage of the ravine and did 
not expose himself only when he rose up to fire, 
but the lad responded, "I am so small they can't 
hit me, and I don't need the stump. He is load- 
ing now and I'll get him when he rises up to 

fire." ^ ^ . 

Every time the boy fired a yell would rise 
from his line. Rorabach felt indignant when the 
enemv violated the implied obligation not to in- 
terfere with the duel of the boys, by sending a 
platoon of balls after Murphy when he retired 
to the rear for another gun, and felt that viola- 
tion of the implied cartel released him from 



37 6 Reminiscences of theiJivil War. 

longer conforming to its obligation. He reserved 
his fire to save the life of his daring little com- 
rade until he saw his brave adversary taking 
very deliberate aim, then he fired, and the heroic 
young Federal fell back in the ravine to rise no 
more. 

Soon General Chalmers with a brigade of 
Confederate cavalry charged the enemy and 
dislodged them and drove them back to their 
main line in the timber, followed at double-quick 
by the Confederate infantry. In the short in- 
terval of cessation in the firing during the cav- 
alry charge, Eorabach went to the ravine where 
the brave boy fell at his fire and found him in 
the agonies of death, but perfectly rational. 
He says that of all the heartrending scenes he 
has witnessed on many battle fields, none af- 
fected him so much as this. He had felt com- 
pelled to shoot at short range to save his own 
little daring comrade, but notwithstanding that 
palliation his conscience smote him, and to him it 
seemed more like murder than war, and he de- 
plores the necessity which impelled the act to 
this day. The countenance so perfectly com- 
posed in the hour of death, the high expansive 
forehead, with radiant countenance mingling its 
pallor with the flashes of an eagle eye, told of a 
boy animated with the noble lexicon of youth, 
pointing his arrows to the sun. Eorabach took 
the haversack off of the boy to adjust it as a 
pillow under the head of the dying soldier. 
"No," he said, "please open it; you will find in 
the bottom a package of letters from my dear 
mother, take them and promise me that you will 
return them to her, and write her of the time and 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 377 

place and circumstances under which her boy 
met his death. Be sure to write her that her boy 
died the death of a true soldier without a stain 
on the name he tried to honor in life and sustain 
in death. Tell her not to grieve for me. Do you 
promise me this?'' Rorabach with tears stream- 
ing from his eyes, responded, "Yes, on the honor 
of a soldier," and in the next minute the soul of 
the noble boy took its astral flight. 

In less time than it takes to tell it, the Confed- 
erates went rushing on the enemy like the billows 
of the sea and bore Rorabach on its thundering 
tide. In ten minutes more he was shot down 
and dangerously wounded with thigh broken, 
and was sent to the hospital in the rear. Next 
morning the ambulance corps took charge of 
him to be sent with the other wounded to Oka- 
lona. The ambulance was driven to the Federal 
hospital to gather up the Confederate wounded 
there. Calling one of the Federal surgeons, Ror- 
abach ascertained that he was surgeon of the 
brigade to which the young lad he had killed was 
attached, and found that the surgeon knew him 
well as a noble youth of great promise. He 
gave the surgeon the letters and the message the 
young hero had sent to his mother, and he prom- 
ised to forward them to her. 



A BLIND BLOCKADE RUNNER AND 
GENERAL GRANT. 



When the southern coastline was blockaded 
many articles of prime necessity commanded 
fabulous prices, which inspired an army of 



37^ Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

inland blockade runners of both sexes on both 
sides of the military lines. Frank White, a blind 
youth of Huntsville, Ala., caught the contagion 
and became one of the most adventurous and 
daring of his class, and was known to a large 
circle of civilians and soldiers on both sides of 
the line. His shrewd address together with his 
sightless eyes for a time warded off suspicion, 
and he was quite successful. His field of opera- 
tions was between Huntsville and Memphis, 
while the greater part of the intervening terri- 
tory was in possession of the Federal army, then 
commanded by General Grant. His outfit con- 
sisted of a pair of splendid gray horses, a spe- 
cially constructed vehicle and a trusted negro 
man for his guide and driver, who was always 
Ijerfectly reliable and true to him and judged 
of the value and quality of the contraband arti- 
cles. His contraband merchandise consisted 
principally of medicines and cloth for Confeder- 
ate uniforms. 

Finally his frequent trips excited the suspi- 
cion of Federal scouts and they arrested and 
conducted him to General Grant's headquarters 
when he was loaded with supplies procured at 
Memphis. The proof was evident and abundant. 

The General had a white elephant on his 
hands. He could deal with powerful enemies 
in the field as rigidly as the stern rules of war 
required, but when he looked into the blind eyes 
of that helpless yet daring youth his sympa- 
thetic nature was deeply touched, and least of 
all did he wish to add to the misfortunes of that 
blind boy ; and for the negro who held witli stern 
tenacity and fidelity to the fortunes of his young 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 379 

master through storm and through sunshine, 
he had great admiration, which commanded that 
respect which such characters have always com- 
manded since man inhabited the earth. The 
great general had thus presented for solution a 
question far more difficult to him than seiges 
and lines of battle. His duty pointed in one 
direction; his sympathy more powerful in an- 
other. After several days' meditation he con- 
fiscated the contraband goods and let the blind 
boy with his team, vehicle and driver go on to 
Huntsville with the gentle admonition to aban- 
don their avocation, and a w^arning as to what 
he would be compelled to do if they resumed the 
contraband trade. But the impetuous youth, 
so soon as he thought himself beyond the reach 
of the Federal army, wheeled about, retraced 
his steps to Memphis and loaded up with an- 
other cargo of contraband goods, and was re- 
captured on his return trip to Huntsville and 
again carried before General Grant, who was 
again troubled with the burden again cast on 
his generosity and the conflict between senti- 
ment and duty, and after several days' captivity 
extended the same generous treatment by turn- 
ing his captives and team loose. 

This generous conduct of the general com- 
manding great armies had the opposite effect 
to that desired. The youth was emboldened in 
the belief that with General Grant he was im- 
mune from the punishment usually inflicted 
on smugglers and blockade runners in times of 
war, and for the third time resumed his occupa- 
tion and abused the confidence and magnanim- 
ity of the general, and was again captured and 



380 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

carried before the general at Corinth, who 
again hesitated for several days as to what dis- 
position to make of the incorrigible blockade 
runner. 

Finally he told the young man and his loyal 
black that he would confiscate the team and 
vehicle as the only apparent means to cripple 
and break up his contraband trade. This sur- 
prised, startled and amazed the victim, who had 
abused the great leniency and kindness extended 
to him, and the youth said, "No, general, you 
surely do not intend to do that." "Yes," the 
General said, "you have abused my kindness 
and forced me to adopt the only apparent means 
I have to stop your unlawful occupation with- 
out going to further extremes." A pass through 
the lines was then given the youth and his guide. 

This made a deep impression on the talented 
and wayward youth, and that impression finally 
led him to the opposite extreme of the arc of 
human conduct. He embraced religion with as 
much persistence and tenacity of purpose as he 
had exhibited in blockade running, and today 
the Reverend Frank White is a zealous, faithful 
and consistent minister of the gospel and is a 
poAverful preacher of the Missionary Baptist 
persuasion. 

But there is another phase to this epi- 
sode in the annals of war. When President 
Grant was a candidate for a third term he was 
a guest at the Burnett House in Cincinnati 
while the Reverend Frank White was a guest at 
the same house, where he was introduced to the 
president. They sat down together in social 
converse, which lasted for a few minutes when 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 381 

General Grant said, "By the way, it occurs to 
me that I have met you before, but the circum- 
stances and place escapes my memory; can you 
refresh it by recalling the time and place?" 

"Oh, yes, Mr, President; you perhaps have not 
forgotten the blind blockade runner who was 
captured three times and carried before you, nor 
those splendid gray horses you took from me." 

"Yes, yes," said the president; "I remember 
you, your guide and the horses well. They were 
the best horses I rode during the war." 

The preacher was now on a warm and genial 
trail, and said, "Mr. President, there is another 
little circumstance connected with that reminis- 
cence which may not have escaped you?" 

"What is it?" inquired the president. 

And the reverend gentleman answered, "You 
forgot to pay me for those horses." 

"What were they worth?" asked the president. 

"They were not for sale; but a few days be- 
fore they were captured the last time I was of- 
fered |500 for them and refused the offer." 

President Grant then stepped to the desk, 
drew his cheque for |500 and gave it to the 
preacher.* 



COLONEL WILLIAM FORREST SHOOTS AT 
HIS BROTHER, THE GENERAL. 



The following is related by Allen Durham, a 
soldier under General Forrest, of much integ- 
rity of purpose. 

* The writer has this history direct from the reverend preacher, 
■whom he has known for many j-ears, and it may be relied on as abso- 
lutely correct. 



382 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Soon after the Bluff City Grays were 
mounted, General Forrest went into camp at 
Spring Hill, Tenn. While there one cold, dreary 
and desolate night the general sent an order to 
his brother. Colonel William Forrest, to take a 
company and go out on a scouting expedition. 
William, for some unexplained cause, did not 
obey the order nor ask for its recall. Next 
morning the general, feeling much exasperated, 
proceeded to the tent of his brother for an expla- 
nation. There was a tree standing fifteen feet 
in front of the tent at which the general halted 
and called for his brother, at the same time rest- 
ing an arm against the tree. 

William, anticipating trouble with the general, 
stepped to the door of his tent, raised his pistol 
and fired at him. The ball struck the tree, and 
fragments of the bark fiew in the face of the gen- 
eral without further damage. The general said, 
^William, what do you mean?'' William then 
threw down his pistol and advanced to his broth- 
er. They retired to the general's tent and held a 
conference, the purport of which was never made 
known or alluded to by either. All that the 
general said was that "William is the only man 
I ever feared." 

General Forrest was a man of very strong at- 
tachment for his brother, mother and wife. He 
had been the head of the family from his youth 
up, and occupied the treble relation of brother, 
son and father to his brothers after the death of 
his father. The writer knows this from intimate 
acquaintance with the family for twenty years. 

For an elaborate and very able history of the 
family, see Dr. John Allan Wyeth's "Life of Gen- 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 383 

eral Nathan Bedford Forrest," one of the finest 
contributions to our war literature. 



THE MOST UNFORTUNATE ACT OF 
GENERAL FORREST. 



In March, 1865, when every division of the 
Confederate army east and west was crowded to 
the wall, every informed mind saw that the Con- 
federacy was fast crumbling in its last agonies 
and rapidly dissolving. At that time General 
Forrest with the remnants of an army was hero- 
ically resisting the Federal advance on Selma, 
Alabama, and was in anything but a hopeful 
mood. Soldiers who had fought heroically for 
long years without seeing their families felt the 
dissolving condition of military operations as 
firmly as the great commanders, and were leav- 
ing the army by hundreds and seeking their way 
to their distant homes. In the Kenutcky com- 
mand then under General Forrest was an old 
man who had passed the age of military service 
before entering the Confederate ranks as a sol- 
dier, and with him was a young boy who had 
made one of the best of soldiers, and at that time 
(March, 1865) had not attained the age of mil- 
itary service, like many thousands of other boys 
who entered the Confederate service. This 
heroic youth, like his aged comrade, applied for 
a furlough, which was denied; but they started 
home without a furlough, firmly believing that 
they were by law exempt from military duty, 
which was true. They were apprehended and 
brought before General Forrest then at Sippey 



384 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Bridge in Alabama, near the boundary of Missis- 
sippi. Each acknowledged that they were mak- 
ing their way back home, and vehemently claimed 
their exemption from military law because of 
over age in the one and under age in the other. 
That defense was true — and a good one, as we 
will presently see — but was utterly ignored by 
General Forrest, who in the rage of uncontrolled 
passion ordered their immediate execution, which 
was carried into effect. 

It has been said in extenuation that they were 
tried by a drum-head court martial, but such 
was not the case, so some of his own soldiers 
say. And it has been further alleged in all se- 
riousness, that General Hood had previously 
ordered all deserters executed, and by implica- 
cation the inference has been drawn that the exe- 
cution was justified under General Hood's order. 
But no legitimate support whatever can be 
drawn from that order of General Hood, 
because at the time of the execution General 
Hood had been relieved of the command and 
ordered to Richmond. It will scarcely be said 
that a general's orders to his army while in com- 
mand survive in force after he is relieved of 
that command. When jurisdiction ends, power to 
command ceases. Again, power to inflict death 
did not reside in General Forrest without the 
finding of a military court and the approval of 
the president of the Confederacy. 

Afterwards it was ascertained that their de- 
fense of not being subject to military service 
w^as absolutely true. To say in the face of such 
indubitable facts that their execution was either 
legal or justified, in any possible view of the 



Reminiscences of the Civil War, ^8^ 

case, is to misappreliend, pervert and misapply 
military law in its severest phases. To de- 
nounce them as deserters when they were not 
subject to military service is to equally misap- 
prehend the scope of military power involving 
death penalties. That they voluntarily served 
their country, when its laws did not impose any 
such obligation, but expressly exempted them, 
lifts their devotion to the higher standard of 
patriotism. To say they deserted the perform- 
ance of a duty the laws did not impose is to 
depose reason and enthrone chaos and anarchy 
in support of usurped power. 

Men who served under General Forrest at 
the time — men who are devoted to his re- 
nown — say that Kentuckians went to him 
after the execution and told him that as 
Kentuckians and soldiers they only sub- 
mitted to it because of his great ability in 
the service, which was then in very great de- 
mand — that they regarded it as their duty to 
protect, no less than command Kentucky sol- 
diers, that in the future they had resolved to do 
it at all hazards. They were on the verge of 
mutiny. General Forrest felt it very keenly. 

It is due to the memory of those unfortunate 
men, to their lineage and to the noble state they 
hailed from, to strike down the unjust stigma of 
desertion with facts, though the pillars of a 
throne crumble at the touch of truth and justice. 
It is due to General Forrest to say that in after 
years, when the sunset of life was casting its 
mellowing influences over his stormy and glo- 
rious career, that he said to Major Strange, his 
trusted friend, that the execution of those brave 



386 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Kentuckians was the only act during his career 
as a soldier which bore heavily on his conscience, 
and that he deeply regrettted and deplored that 
one unfortunate mistake. 



GENERAL ROBERT TOOMBS AT FRAZER'S 
FARM AND MALVERN HILL. 



The following are recollections of William F. 
Ferguson, a private in the Second Georgia infan- 
try, company F. Paul J. Simms, colonel; Gen- 
eral Robert Toombs, brigade commander. 

General Toombs was a man of national repu- 
tation — a fire-eating Southron of the Yancey 
school. For alleged disobedience of orders in 
charging a masked battery on Malvern Hill he 
was unjustly accused of cowardice by General 
A. P. Hill, for which he challenged Hill to fight 
a duel, as we will see further along. 

His first serious engagement was at York- 
town, where he lead a brilliant charge and retook 
the Confederate entrenchments from which 
North Carolina troops had been driven by the 
Federals. Ferguson says he displayed great cool- 
ness and courage under very severe fire, when his 
men were dropping all around him, and cites as 
an instance when shells were bursting all around 
and over him and his command, before they 
reached the infantry firing line. Toombs was on 
horseback, intently watching the pyrotechnic 
display, when he observed a shell approaching 
him directly, with much disturbance of atmos- 
pheric conditions, and with some nerve disturb- 
ances in the troops; some of whom were killed 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 387 

and others wounded before they reached a posi- 
tion where the infantry could take a hand with 
their small arms. Toombs gave a graceful bow 
to the advancing shell just in time to avoid its 
life destroying effects. The serio-comic recogni- 
tion of the value of time saved a hero's life. 

Sagacity sometimes magnetizes a man's nerves 
and quickens the law of self preservation. It 
trilled along the line in epic plaudits and forci- 
bly illustrated the difference between senatorial 
and martial pyrotechnics, also the marked con- 
trast between sitting on a senatorial rainbow 
and a warhorse with the music of cannon and 
musketry. But Toombs was as heroic as his sen- 
atorial keys had indicated he would be when the 
time came for its proofs. 

At Frazer's Farm, where one of the most des- 
perate battles of the war was fought, Toombs 
led his brigade in one of the most sanguinary 
charges ever made on a field of battle. Ferguson 
says his company went into that fight with sixty 
men and came out with only ten men who 
escaped unharmed. This awful percentage of 
fifty out of a total of sixty attests the severity of 
the battle and undaunted courage of the troops. 
Toombs was there in the thickest of the fight, 
leading and directing his men. 

He also led a very desperate charge on Mal- 
vern Hill during the seven days' terrific slaugh- 
ter around Richmond. Here an incident oc- 
curred which eliminated the brave senator and 
general from the army and the soldiers under 
him, who entertained profound admiration for 
him, both as a general and for his uniform kind- 
ness. 



388 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

Ferguson, who Avas in the charge on Malvern 
Hill, says that General A. P. HilFs charge of 
cowardice against him was very inconsiderate 
and unjust. That the charge grew out of the fol- 
lowing incident. He had been ordered to charge 
a position in front of his brigade, which led over 
thickly fallen timber and a dense undergrowth, 
rendering it impossible for his men to keep in 
line. But as they went in gallant style, and 
formed and reformed as best they could under 
an awful fire of small arms, his men falling by 
scores. The chaparral and undergrowth in 
front of the charging brigade concealed a power- 
ful battery of the enemy, which opened on them 
with grape, canister and schrapnel at close range^ 
with terrible effect. Toombs, seeing that his 
brigade would be swept away before they could 
reach the cannon, gave the order to "file left'' — 
for two wise objects — to save his men as far as 
possible and to flank the powerful battery. 

They "filed left," as fast as possible, a distance 
of about one hundred and fifty yards. The 
masked battery, Ferguson says, contained forty- 
three guns of large calibre and several field bat- 
teries on either flank of the large guns, all of 
which opened with a terrific volume of fire on the 
ever advancing brigade, which in that carnage of 
hell was unsupported. Toombs saw at once that 
his brigade would either perish or be forced to 
surrender if he did not "file left" and flank the 
batteries. 

The charge was like the charge of the six hun- 
dred at Balaklava in the Crimea. On the con- 
secrated brigade rushed, with Toombs at their 
head, like the rolling billows of an ocean. They 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 389 

captured two batteries of field artillery, but were 
not able to hold the captured batteries five min- 
utes. The enemy had a powerful support of in- 
fantry a few rods to the rear of the captured bat- 
teries, who like fresh demons rising from the 
earth, made a bayonet charge on the exhausted 
handful of Confederates and drove them with 
great slaughter from the field. 

No support of fresh or other troops came to 
their relief. They had stood to their guns as 
bravely as the Greeks at Marathan or Ther- 
mopolse. Toombs exercised the wisest judgment 
under the circumstances and conditions which 
confronted him. 

Major General Magruder, his division com- 
mander found no fault with him for "filing left" 
to escape as far as possible the carnage which 
would have swept his brigade from the earth be- 
fore he could have reached those forty-three 
cannons of large calibre in front. It was a mo- 
ment when he could not await orders, and a 
moment when his heroic nature revolted at re- 
treat. He chose to "file left" and move on. 

Ferguson, who is a truthful and reliable man, 
was in that charge, and he says that Major Gen- 
eral A. P. Hill, in a moment, without full knowl- 
edge of the conditions under which Toombs 
acted, charged him with cowardice for deviating 
from the order by "filing left." That General 
Toombs thereupon challenged his superior of- 
ficer. General A. P. Hill, to fight under the code 
duellOj which was a very grave breach of mili- 
tary law, and imposed no obligation on Hill to 
respond to the challenge. 



390 Reminiscences of the Civil War. 

General Toombs, like many other men labor- 
ing under a just feeling of lofty pride, fixed his 
own standards as a test of the courage denied 
him. It may be said with absolute verity that 
the heroic bearing of Toombs in leading the des- 
perate charges at Frazer's Farm and on Malvern 
Hill evidenced the extreme opposite of cow- 
ardice. 

The episode resulted in General Toombs re- 
signing his command in the army and retiring to 
private life for a short time. He took an honor- 
able part in organizing state troops after the 
invasion of Georgia. 

His son-in-law, Dudley M. DuBose, was ad- 
mitted to the bar at Memphis in 1854, at the 
same time the writer was enrolled in the profes- 
sional guild. Dudley married the daughter of 
Senator Toombs in the White House at Wash- 
ington, and his wife was led to the altar by Pres- 
ident Buchanan. He went to housekeeping in a 
residence on the south side of Madison street, 
between Second and Third streets, in Memphis, 
Tenn., w^here he was frequently visited by his 
unique father-in-law. On such occasions Dud- 
ley entertained his friends, including the writer. 

Dudley was born and came to man's estate 
on Big Creek, in Shelby county, twenty-five 
miles from Memphis, a creek then celebrated for 
fine fishing, where we met in the halcyon days of 
early youth at Taylor's old mill, to lave in its 
limpid waters and make heavy drafts on its finny 
tribes. He was a man of splendid physique, and 
favored the Eomanoffs of Russia, especially the 
Grand Duke Alexis. He represented his dis- 
trict in Confirress two terms after the war. He 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 391 

was a brother of Judge DuBose, of Memphis. 
Dudley was a gallant brigadier in the Confeder- 
ate army. 

To go back a moment in the chronological 
order of events to the desperate battle of Fra- 
zer's Farm. General Toombs' brigade was 
drawn up in an open wheat field, sloping down 
to the dense undergrowth in the Chickahominy 
bottom, on the outer edge of which there ap- 
peared to be only a strong line of Federal sharp- 
sliooters. To force them back into the wilder- 
ness General Toombs deployed seven companies- 
of his brigade, including Ferguson's company. 
These companies advanced through a very heavy 
fire to within fifty yards of the Federal line, and 
halted, where they maintained their ground 
amidst one of the most destructive fires ever 
encountered on a battlefield. Instead of a mere 
line of sharpshooters they marched up on the 
regular line of battle. 

While this unequal contest was going on, 
against such terrible odds, the left of the Confed- 
erate line gave way and General Toombs was 
ordered to reinforce it with his brigade, leaving 
the seven companies altogether unsupported, 
fighting against such terrible odds, where they 
were falling like leaves in autumn. Seeing the 
trap into which these heroic men had been drawn 
for annihilation. General ^lagruder hurried up 
two brigades to their support and prevented 
their capture or total annihilation. It was 
here in that open wheat field where Ferguson's 
company of sixty men lost in killed and 
wounded fifty men out of a total of sixty. This 
almost unparalleled percentage of loss points 



392 Reminiscences of the Civil War, 

with index finger to the indomitable heroism of 
the Georgia troops. 

Here amidst this carnage an incident unpar- 
alleled in the history of war occurred. There 
was a very moral and religious youth, named 
Alfred Watts, who stood in line by the side of 
Ferguson, when he was shot through the head 
with a minnie ball. When struck he sprang three 
feet up in the air, burst out into a hearty laugh 
and fell dead. This is worthy the attention of 
medical science. The ball must have excited the 
risible nerves in its passage through the head. 
Watts had a brother in the same company and 
line of battle, whose shoulder was shattered a 
few' minutes after his brother's death, and he 
died under the surgeon's knife. 

When the reinforcements came to the support 
of these heroic men they were ordered to fix 
bayonets and charge. But the Federals in ser- 
ried ranks stood immovable and fought with bay-- 
onets. The two lines, after that tremendous 
clash, recoiled only about twenty feet apart, and 
there each maintained his rood of ground for 
twenty minutes, shooting each other down, 
through smoke and flash of musketry, like the 
French and Austrians at Meringo, where only a 
narrow steam separated the combatants. To 
charge the heroic leader who stood at the 
head of such men with cowardice at Malvern 
Hill, where he lead his shattered brigade with 
a heroism unsurpassed in the annals of war, 
does not amount to respectable nonsense, 
although made by one of our great Southern 
idols in an inconsiderate moment of passion, 
because Toombs save the order to ^'flle left" when 



Reminiscences of the Civil War. 393 

within one hundred yards of a masked battery of 
forty-three large guns, flanked by batteries of 
field artillery. 

This defense of the Georgia hero is not made 
in disparagement of the great and heroic lieuten- 
ant, General A. P. Hill, who was killed at Peters- 
burgh a few days before the curtain fell at Appo- 
mattox to rise no more forever. Hill will live in 
our glorious war literature as long as letters are 
preserved, loved and honored by posterity. He 
was a great general and as true a patriot as Lee. 
Let justice spread her beneficent mantle alike 
over the names and deeds of both Toombs and 
Hill, crown them with laurels and immortelles, 
and hand their names down the cycles of time to 
the remotest posterity, as men who acted a noble 
part in the greatest drama of the world. 

Ferguson says that in both battles — at Fra- 
zer's Farm and Malvern Hill — the gray and the 
blue lay piled across each other, two, three and 
sometimes four deep — that they charged over 
and trampled on the dead and wounded in bay- 
onet conflict. The obstinacy and courage of 
these contending armies has never been sur- 
passed, and the writer or speaker who disparages 
the courage of either of the disciplined armies 
proclaims himself unworthy of either office. 
McDonald's charge on the Austrian center at 
Wagram with 15,000 men, in July, 1809, under 
the eye of his emperor, exhibited no higher de- 
gree of courage than both Federals and Confed- 
erates did in the mighty drama of the civil war. 

FINIS. 



NOTICE. 



This volume will be followed at an early date 
by a volume entitled "Three Years in the Secret 
Service of General Forrest," and then by an- 
other volume of "Reminiscences of the Civil 
War." All who may desire one or both of these 
volumes may address the author. 

John Hallum, 
Little Rock, Ark. 



INDEX, 



PAGE 

The Bluff City Grays 7 

Execution of marauders 11 

The heroine of Tennessee — Marvelous escape 14 

Capture of Federals 16-17 

Outrages of Fielding- Hurst's outlaws 27-32 

Execution of sixty of these outlaws 29-30 

Two surprises 32 

Captain Pat H. Wheat— Ferdinand Gates 32-36 

Slaug-hter of a panic stricken brigade 36 

A runaway kid in battle 38-39 

War and love across the line 39 

Frank Stanley and Miss Jessey Clarke 39-45 

Explosion of the mine at Petersburgh 45 

Capture and execution of negro troops 49-50 

Remarkable scene between Generals Robert E. Lee and 

J. J. Archer 50-51 

Hon. John G. Fletcher S3 

Wm. Nelson, a hero 57 

Lieutenant Samuel A. Louder 59 

Wealthy men in North Carolina organize an indepen- 
dent regiment 1200 strong 60-63 

An Indian in the disguise of a hog kills men on the 

outpost 64-65 

Surrounded — Charges through the enemy's lines 66 

His splendid generalship — Capture of a dangerous out- 
post 67-69 

A bull fight in camp 72 

Capture of a shirt-tail squad 74 

Hunting whortleberries under difficulties 78 

His plantations destroyed — After the surrender he kills 

eight marauders in two hours 80-87 

Battle of Pea Ridge or Elkhorn 87 

The battle lost by General Van Dorn's blunders 88-90 

Indians afraid of wagon guns 88 

A much frightened colonel 90 

Capture of a trading steamer 91-94 

Story of the North Arkansas outlaws 95 

A hero boy kills Wm. Dark 97-98 

Dark's wife — A heroine — Swims the river with her 

child in her lap 99 

The regulators hang fourteen 101-102 



39^ 



Index. 



A noble old preacher 102 

Generalship — Rout and death of outlaws 103 

The parting- of the ways 104 

Martin D. Hart, a Texas lawyer, heads a band of out- 
laws—Murder of Colonel Rosa D. Carroll and 

Colonel lidward Richardson 105 

Capture and execution of Hart and Hays 105-106 

Southern spy for the Federals caught and executed.. 107-108 
A young" woman in the uniform of a Confederate 

captain 108 

The daring- Captain Arnold 109-110 

As seen by A. C. Richardson Ill 

Major Earl Van Dorn turns over equipment to Con- 
federates Ill 

Neg-otiations with the Indians — Colonel Douglass H. 

Cooper, General Pike, et al 112-113 

Division of Indian tribes 114-115 

Colonel Cooper lectures the Indians — Their reply 115-116 

The battle of Chustenahlah 118 

The greatest battle with Indians since Tippecanoe 119 

Texans scalp the Indians 120 

Perilous plight of two captains and desperate fight — 

A heroine 122-126 

Gunboats patrol the Mississippi river 127 

Transportation of guns across the Mississipi river 127 

A. C. Richardson and comrades captured 128 

They capture the captors and escape 129 

Foraging for hogs — Ivudicrous scene 130 

Richardson's narrow escape 131-133 

A Georgia heroine 134 

Two daring Texans enter the Federal lines and cap- 
ture horses 135-136 

Are pursued — Saved by a heroine 137-140 

Kind intercessions of an old Federal soldier 141-142 

The cultivation of cotton by northern men whilst the 

war was in progress 142-146 

Negroes guarding cotton farms hoist the black flag 

and are killed 146-148 

Relative number of Federal and Confederate soldiers... 149 
A. C. Richardson's pleasant experience as a prisoner 

of war 150 

The generous Major Koonce and General Hatch 151-153 

Exchange of prisoners — The noble sentiments of 

a Federal ofificer 153-154 

lyudicrous mistake of a jolly Federal 155-157 

A desperate choice decided in the smallest fraction of 

time 157-158 

Sixty thousand dollars captured by a thrifty Texan.... 158-159 



Index. 397 

Major John A. Morg-an's last campaign 159 

Desperate battle of Mt. Sterling- — Heroic incidents. ..161-165 
Confederates overwhelmed next day — Splendid conduct 

of Captain John H. Thomas 166-16S 

He commands the rear guard on the retreat 169 

Charge on the militia 170 

Battle of Moss Creek — Incidents of 173 

An anxious benedict 175 

Kxecution of a notorious brigand 177-180 

Execution of ten brigands 183-185 

The two Crittenden brothers, Thomas and George, 
generals on opposite sides, fight their armies — 

Remarkable incidents 186-192 

A duel on the picket line 192 

Battle of Rogersville 194 

Generals Jones and Giltner capture 4200 Federals 195 

A Federal banquet miscarries 196 

Ivincoln's patriotic negro 198 

Capture of the Kentucky home guard 198 

They are paroled and disregard it, and are recap- 
tured the same day 199-204 

Execution of Mosby 204 

Mattingly's expedition — Forlorn hostages 207-209 

A garrulous old Kentucky mother whose two sons, 

Jim and Dave, join the opposing armies 210-212 

An amusing episode — The Kentucky mountaineer. .213-214 
Mountain girls visit the camp — Ludicrous episode. ..215-217 

An easy capture of a train of wagons 217-218 

Battle of Blue Springs 219 

Colonel Giltner's repeated refusal to obey the orders 

of his general justified 220-222 

Federal flank movement thwarted — Desperate fighting 

next day— Captain Thomas left on the field 223-226 

Battle for possession of the salt works 226 

Colonel Hanson and Captain Thomas command the 
opposing forces — Colonel Hanson desperately 

wounded — Episodes 229-232 

Battle of Marion 232 

General Breckenridge 233-234 

Two hundred negroes killed — Death of Colonel Boles.... 235 

Peter Avrett's mistake 237 

Captain Thomas disobeys orders 238-239 

General Cosby as a cannonier — Amusing episode 239 

General Breckenridge loses the salt works 240 

Irish wit and humor at Bull Run 241-244 

Steptoe Washington 244 

Wounded at Seven Pines— Episode 245-246 

Battles around Richmond 248 



398 Index. 

General Field cashiers two panic stricken soldiers.. .250-251 

Heroism and death of George West 252-253 

Charge on Malvern Hill — General McCall bewildered 

and captured 253 

Meeting of Generals McCall and A. P. Hill 254 

Women and children between the firing lines 255 

Steptoe, hungry, takes a haversack from the dead — 

Food covered with blood 255 

Steptoe in the battle of Cedar Mountain 256 

Capture of General Pope's headquarters 257 

Steptoe on sick furlough — Pathetic incidents — A 

noble woman 259-261 

Steptoe hobbling on the highway — Warned of danger 

—Spends the night with three Federals 262-263 

Steptoe in the battle of Fredericksburgh 264 

Consultation of Confederate generals on Hamilton 

Heights — A splendid scene 266-267 

Signal given to open fire on the enemy 268-269 

A fine shot— Episodes 269 

The enemy foiled — Stonewall Jackson's desire to 

assail Hancock's corps at night 270-271 

A gruesome story 271-272 

Steptoe in the battle of Gettysburgh 273 

Taken prisoner — Heroic episodes 277-279 

Steptoe's indignation— A craven Confederate 279-280 

A noble Federal officer 280-281 

Steptoe writes to his sister in Federal lines 281-283 

Steptoe in the battle of the Wilderness ^3 

Stonewall Jackson attacks Hooker in the rear — Com- 
plete rout of the Federals— Episodes 284-285 

Stonewall Jackson's mortal wound — Demoralization 

of his corps 286-287 

Sleeping on their arms — A moon-eyed colonel — Epi- 
sodes 287 

Colonel J. E. B. Stewart takes command of Jackson's 

corps 287 

Splendid finesse of Stewart to restore the corps to 

fighting trim 288-289 

Great battle of the next day — A bayonet charge — 

Dauntless heroism of Stewart 289-290 

Steptoe at the battle of Appomattox — Sorrowful 

scenes 291-292 

General Hancock's headquarters with Steptoe's 

father 292-293 

General Hancock's present to Steptoe 294 

Resources of the North and South compared 294-297 

John Nevill, the courier 298 

Distressing incident heroically met 298-300 



Index. 399 

Surrounded at Fort Gibson — Heroic escape 302-303 

Nevill on the frontier — The best scout and courier 

in the service 304-305 

Noted Indians 305-306 

A thrilling- and daring- march of the courier in sight 

of hostile Indians 307-308 

Narrow escape 310 

John A. Woollen 311 

Marries a couple under the assumed name of Judge 

Tatum 312 

Caught on a foraging expedition — I^udicrous run 

from Federals 313-314 

Another expedition — Finds Indians with prisoners and 

a war dance 315-316 

Captures and kills negro marauders 318-320 

Colonel H. G. Bunn 320 

John in the pest house 325 

Mrs. Woods, a noble lady, nurses him to health 325-327 

Irish wit and humor 328 

A Roland for an Oliver 329 

The Gilmore Scouts battle for crinoline — A ludicrous 

travesty on war 330-333 

George W. McDowel at Shiloh 334 

Terrific battle— Episodes and incidents 335-337 

General Hindman hard pressed and reinforced — 

Episodes 337-339 

McDowel goes south — Is badly wounded 340-343 

Is discharged — Begs to rejoin the army — A hopeless 

cripple — General Fagan assists him 344 

Battle of Wilson's Creek — Confederates surprised 344-346 

The battle ground — Generals Price, McCulloch, Chur- 
chill, Lyon and Siegel—'* Billy " Woodruff's 

battery 347 

How the Confederates were surprised 350 

A brave old Dutchman — Episode 351 

Siegel routed — The Confederates hurry to Bloody 

Point 352-353 

Woodruff's duel 353 

Charge of the Texas cavalry — A heroic little boy 355-358 

Incidents of the battle 358 

A Dutchman's estimate of Siegel's flight 358-359 

The Bluff City Grays— Roll of honor 359 

History of the company 360-361 

Transfer of the company to Forrest's command — 

Exciting episode between Generals Smith and 

Forrest 362-363 

In the battle of Shiloh — Great mistake of General 

Beauregard 364-365 



400 



Index. 



Richardson and lyieutenant Hoffman at luka 366 

Desperate charge on a battery of nine Napoleon 

g-uns 367-368 

A brave Federal stands by his guns 369 

Generals Van Dorn and Price— Battle of Corinth 370-372 

Dare-devil courage — Miraculous escape 372 

Heroic duel between boys at the battle of Harris- 
burgh, as told by brave George B. Rorabach 373 

Death of the Federal boy— Pathetic history 376 

Rorabach dangerously wounded 377 

Frank White, a blind blockade runner, and General 

Grant — General Grant's sympathy and leniency.... 377 

Another long-after phase to the story 380 

Colonel Wm. M. Forrest shoots at his brother, General 

Forrest 381 

Unfortunate execution of two Kentucky soldiers by 

General Forrest 383 

General Toombs' brigade in the battle of Frazer's 

Farm 386 

Desperate fighting and great slaughter, as seen by 

Wm. F. Ferguson 386 

Desperate charge on Malvern Hill — Masked batteries 
—Great slaughter of the Confederates— Toombs 
gave the order to "file left," and was unjustly 
charged with cowardice by General A. P. Hill — 

The challenge to the field 387-389 

General DuBose — Reminiscences of youth 390 

Young Alfred Watts— A singular incident 392 

Fighting with bayonets and clubbed guns 393 



